Wave Over Wave
by mharawolenczak
Summary: Lucas finally finds love or does he? Is she Sandra Kirby all over again? Contains characters from all three seasons. Slow to start but gets good I promise :
1. Prologue

So instead of writing a 3500 word paper on Jane Austen last night, I felt the uncontrollable desire to write 6500 words of fan fiction. Amazing. I finally get the muse running and she's running in the wrong direction at the wrong time. So here's to five chapters

**PROLOGUE**

September 2022

"Look Katie, I know you think you know what you're doing, but have you really thought about it? I mean, this is your career were talking about. And a kid? Come on Katie, you can't return a kid. Once you have them you're stuck with them. Are you sure this is what you really want?" Benjamin Krieg stood across from Captain Hitchcock, sitting on the couch in her quarters aboard the H.R_. Clinton_. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. What she was asking.

"Look Ben, you remember when we rescued those kids from the depot? That little girl was so…so loving… and it made me think that I might want a baby of by own someday. You told me that I was command material. And you were right. I _was_ command material. But with everything going on, I want more Ben. I want a family. When I put out to sea I want to know that it's for somebody, for something greater than 'G-d and country'."

Ben stood and crossed the room, sat on the couch and took Katie's hands in his own.

"But that's the point Katie. You said it yourself; you can't command a ship with a baby on your hip. And do you really want to leave your child to someone else to be raised? Whose gonna watch them when your at sea? Me? I'd do it in a minute Katie, but come on, what do I know about raising kids?"

"You did a fine job helping Captain Bridger with Lucas" Katie countered.

"Lucas was a teenager, a teenager who had already done more at 16 than most adults have done at 60. That's a lot different from a baby." _This is crazy!_ Ben thought._ She'll throw her whole career away._ Out loud Ben continued "Look… I know that Seaquest's disappearance caused you a lot of pain. It caused all of us pain. But having a baby isn't going to fill that hole."

"I know that Ben. I wasn't talking about having a baby."

Ben sat up straight. "Oh, you weren't." Relief washed over his face. "That's good." His smile faltered. "Wait, then what did you mean. You very specifically said 'Ben, I want you to be the father of my child'. What did you mean if you didn't mean…uh father a child?"

"I know that I can't have a baby and keep my commission. But there's no reason why I can't have a family. I've been talking to adoption agencies. I'm going to adopt a child. An older one, one of the one's least likely to be adopted. There's so many children out there Ben with no family. I figure half a family is better than none right?"

"Katie…" Ben's voice became soft. "Katie, they aren't going to give a single woman, who's a Captain in the navy, and hardly ever on land custody of a child. It just doesn't happen."

"I've already decided Ben. And I've already taken the steps necessary to do this, with or without your help." Katie stood and walked to the porthole. She stared out at the ocean. Ben stood and walked up behind her.

"What kind of steps Katie?" Ben tried to keep his voice steady but it still wavered.

"I spoke to Noyce. I'm going to stay with the navy, but it'll be in a lab, developing submersibles, expanding on the work Lucas and I did with the Stinger. I'll be permanently stationed at New Cape Quest for at least a year or two. After that… well I'll figure it out then."

Ben relaxed. "You scared me for a minute Katie, I thought you'd gone and done something stupid for a second there." _You'll have plenty of time to be stupid._ Ben was reminded of the time he'd given Lucas a condom. He'd seen the boy's future as clearly as everyone else had. He had so much potential- 16 years old and he'd found a way to talk to dolphins, hacked into the World Bank (something Ben promised he'd _never_ tell anyone) and developed an underwater equivalent to the hotrod. _You'll have plenty of time… _At the time he thought they had all the time in the world. Ben made-up his mind then.

"Whatever you need from me Katie. I'll do it."

"I haven't even explained what I want Ben."

Ben crossed his arms and shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I owe it to you Katie. And I owe it to them."

Katie's eyes watered, realizing why he was saying yes. It was because he finally understood what she'd been trying to say. That they owed it to them. Their friends might not ever be found, their dreams left unfulfilled, but they, those left behind had a chance still to see _their_ dreams come true.

"Thank you Ben."

"So what do you need Katie?"

"Well you were right about them not letting a single woman adopt."

"Why do I get the feeling I won't like where this is going."

"I sort of told the adoption agency that we only separated because we wanted to be able to serve on whichever ship we wanted, whether the other one was there or not. That we never would have been able to work together on Seaquest, and you wouldn't have been able to be the moral officer on my ship if we'd stayed married."

"Uh huh."

"All you have to do is come with me to the agency and confirm my story."

"You want me to lie? To a government official."

"It's not lying… exactly… it could be the truth." Katie shook her head, hands on her hips. She looked up at Ben, crossed her arms and gave him her best Captain's glare. "It's not like you've never lied before."

Ben threw his hands in front of him "Hey now Captain, I never said no." He stuck his hands in his pockets. "I'm just disappointed that's all."

"Why because I'm too military to lie?" She replied haughtily.

"No." Ben got a wistful look on his face. "Because for a minute I thought you wanted to remarry me."

Katie's arms relaxed to her sides, as she became uncertain and fidgety. "Well I...I didn't want to ask that much from you." Her arms slid back up until she was hugging herself and she looked away.

Ben chuckled. It never ceased to amaze him how Katie could be so commanding in one instant and so vulnerable in another. He wondered how many people got to see this side of her. He wanted to tell her the truth then. That he had lied before. That he really loved her. If he told her that right now, if he asked her to marry him again, he knew she probably would. But it wasn't what she deserved. She deserved to be free to love someone worthwhile. Hard as it would be for her to get a date with a child, it would be even harder with a child_ and_ a husband.

"Well thanks Katie. The pressure's off now, I don't have to walk down the aisle or take you to bed, I can finally sleep at night." Ben laughed as Katie threw one of the couch cushions at him. She was laughing, the first time that Ben had seen her laugh since Seaquest had gone missing.

"So when do we meet our new kid?"


	2. A Second Date

Summer 2032

"It's a great place to work, I mean I get to travel around the world, see all kinds of places, meet different kinds of people. And some of the science would just blow your mind. I mean if it wasn't all classified that is. But really it's like a dream. Seaquest is probably the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me."

"Well this is me" she stopped in front of a tall apartment building.

"Oh." Lucas shuffled his feet a bit. "I ah, I'm sorry if I bored you."

"No, not at all. I actually thought it was interesting, you don't often meet someone who understands science so well. Well you do, but usually they're either old enough to be your father or arrogant enough to make you sick. I had fun."

"Me too. I ah, wish we had a chance for another date."

"This was a date?" She started walking towards the door. "I don't know ensign…" she stopped a few feet away from Lucas and from the door. "Are you sure you want to call walking a girl home a date, I mean you might give naval officers a bad name. I thought a date meant dinner, drinks at the very least." She stood swaying back and forth in a teasing manner, with a smile on her face.

Lucas closed the space between them "Well, I wouldn't normally call walking a girl home a date but then I don't normally walk a girl home the long way." He stopped in front of her. "I mean isn't there a rule about time or something. Two hours of walking and talking ought to be enough to count for a date."

"Ought to be enough for what? Trying to get a good night kiss are we?" She was mocking him, but the light in her eyes and the smile on her face told Lucas that she was mocking him in the kindest way possible.

He took a deep breathe and took her face in his hands. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm just trying to get another date." He closed the space between them, pressing his lips to hers.

The stayed that way for a moment before breaking apart. "I guess it's too bad you're leaving tomorrow." She turned and walked into the building. Lucas stood for a moment watching her then he turned to walk away. That's when he heard her voice.

"So that second date". Lucas spun around to see her standing there. She looked so beautiful. He could hear uncertainty in her voice.

"Maybe we could grab a drink sometime."

Lucas smiled. "Yea, that'd be great."

She shifted on the spot and began fidgeting. She was looking anywhere but at him. "Did you maybe want to uh…? I mean I know you don't know when you'll be in town again… we can't set a date but uh…" she stopped moving and looked right at him "Did you want to get that drink now?"

"Yes. Yes I would."

She motioned for him to follow her. "Come on."


	3. Lavender, Sunlight and Lies

Lucas woke up to the smell of lavender and the feeling of sunlight his face. _Sunlight? There's no sunlight on Seaquest._ He groaned and opened his eyes. The night before was coming back to him.

It was their last night of shore leave in New Cape Quest. It was the birthday of one of the security lieutenants so they had all gone to a bar to celebrate. It was one of those bars frequented mostly by navel officers. There was an open mic, and this young woman had gotten up to sing…

Lucas groaned again. _Navel officer… I spend the night with another navel officer._ That was a big deal. The guys on the boat were always spending the night with one girl or another, but it was an unwritten rule that officers were off limits- even to other officers. There was just too much of a chance that they could become your crewmate later- or worse, CO.

Now that he thought about it, he wasn't even sure she _was_ a navel officer. She'd been with a group of them, but she was dressed like a civilian. Lots of officers went there dressed in their civvies but mostly they wore their casual uniforms. She had sung three or four times- more than anyone else and everyone seemed to know who she was.

_Maybe she's a professional singer…_ She certainly could have been. Lucas thought she had one of the most beautiful voices he'd ever heard. She'd sang a country song, a rock song, and a few slower ballads, and it was beautiful every time.

_What did she say she did for a living_? The more Lucas thought about it the more he realized that she hadn't said. In fact, she hadn't said much of anything. She'd asked questions and he'd answered. They'd talked about music and books but nothing really personal like where she grew up or her occupation.

He'd walked her home and had come up for a drink. She'd had a bottle of strawberry wine in the fridge. His head was still foggy a bit, because they'd drank the whole thing.

He tried to remember what else happened. What else he knew about her. He realized he didn't even know her last name. _She must have told me something… didn't she? _ He thought hard. What did he know about her? Her favourite color was green, she was born in May. _May what? … I don't remember._ She liked dolphins. She had asked him about Darwin. Now that he thought about it, he wondered how she knew Darwin's name. He tried to remember if she'd asked before he'd said the name or if she knew the name before hand. _Damn it…damn damn damn…_ Lucas was terrified that she was another Sandra. 

_Oh G-d… did I tell her anything classified?_ Lucas fought through the fog in his brain to their time in the apartment. It came back in small flashes. A vision of her laughing at a joke and spilling the wine. Of them kissing. Of her taking him back to her bedroom. He remembered kissing her, and feeling like this was the moment, _the moment. _

_Lucas broke away from their kiss. "Wait… wait a minute." "What's wrong?" She sounded panicked. "Nothing…nothing…"He brushed her hair off her forehead and kissed it. "I just...I want to remember this…" he trailed kisses back to her mouth. "I want to remember you, what you taste like, that smell, how your skin feels." She smiled "I don't think I could forget any of that." Lucas smiled and held her face in his hands... 'G-d she's beautiful' he thought. "Katie?...This is… I mean it's my… I've never..." "Shhhh" She kissed him again. "Me neither…"_

Lucas was kicking himself now. _That was probably a line._ Suddenly there was a movement on the bed. Katie pulled herself into a sitting position behind Lucas. Wrapping her arms around him she kissed his neck and shoulder. "MMmm. Good morning."

Lucas looked into her eyes. He wanted to be sick thinking that he'd been conned again. But even greater than that, he wanted to kiss her again. He brushed her hair to the side and placed a hand on her cheek. "What do you do?"

She laughed and moved off the bed. She kept one of the sheets wrapped around her. She moved to the vanity and picked up a brush. "That's a nice, I say good morning and you ask 'what do you do'." She sat down and began running the brush through her hair. "What do you mean what do I do?"

"For a living, what do you do for a living?" Lucas tried to keep the panic from entering his voice and he stood up, with the other sheet wrapped around his torso. "I mean are you a singer, you, you sang pretty well last night."

She looked at him through the mirror. She smiled sadly and put the brush down and turned around to face him. "I'm not a singer. I ah, well I'm a lot of things, but most of the time I'm a doctor. Marine biology. Right now I'm just waiting for my next posting.

"Oh." Lucas relaxed a bit. "You look a bit young to be a doctor, what are you 20?" Lucas said 20, but in reality she looked like she was still a teenager. _Oh please tell me I didn't sleep with someone underage…_ His panic just couldn't catch a break today.

She laughed again. It was beautiful. "No, I just turned 18 a few months ago. I just finished my second PhD. Just in time to turn 18 and enlist."

Lucas' eyebrows rose at the mention of not one but two PhDs. And enlistment.

"So you're an officer?"

"Yea…sort of. I finished OCS last month; I'm just waiting for my assignment."

"And your 18 with two PhDs?"

She looked around the room before looking back at Lucas. She looked at him for a minute before staring at her hands.

"Yeah I uh, I graduated high school early then I got my PhD in Veterinary Medicine- for marine life. Then I went to work for Malcolm Landowne studying dolphins and earned a PhD in Interspecies Communication." She blurted it out in a rush and wouldn't look Lucas in the eye.

"Malcolm Lansdowne? Wait is that how you knew about Darwin?" Lucas was confused now.

She looked up at him and got a funny look on her face "Well actually uh… I…"

"Katie?" Lucas heard the door shut. "Katie you here?" A man's voice rang out through the apartment. It was quickly followed by a woman's voice.

"She's probably out. She said something about spending the day with some friends before she shipped out."

Katie jumped up and slapped her hand over Lucas' mouth. "Shhh…. Oh my G-d" She whispered.

Lucas moved her hand. "Who is it?" He whispered back.

"It's my parents." She looked panicked. "Look just ah... ah I don't know… don't talk. Or move."

They heard the man's voice again. "Whoa looks like she threw a bit of a party. Maybe we shoulda warned her we were coming over."

"What is that? Wine? Did you buy her that?"

"Hey now, the girls gotta live a little. She works too hard."

The voices sounded familiar, but Lucas couldn't place them.

"She's a hard worker."

"Overworked"

"Dedicated."

"Alright she'd dedicated." There was a pause in the voices. "Dedicated to working herself to death." There was another pause followed by the sound someone getting hit in the gut, with an appropriate oomph from the man.

"Honestly Ben…"

The voices trailed off as they entered the kitchen, now they were just muffled noise.

Lucas froze where he was. He knew now where he knew the voices from. Katie saw the look on his face as realization dawned on him. Her face fell. He was going to be mad…

"Please tell me that Benjamin Krieg is not in your kitchen right now."

"Benjamin Krieg is not in my kitchen right now."

Her face remained emotionless for a second but then she started to crack a smile. Lucas lost it.

"You could have mentioned that Ben was your father a little sooner." Lucas wasn't whispering anymore.

Katie stopped laughing. "Shhh… keep your voice down. I was going to, I just, I knew that if you knew who my parents were you wouldn't…"

Lucas interrupted her. "Wouldn't what? Wouldn't have gone to bed with you? Your damn right I wouldn't have!" Lucas wasn't bothering to keep his voice quiet. In fact, he was downright shouting.

"Well that's always nice to hear." They both looked up to see Captain Katie Hitchcock standing in the doorway of the bedroom. Ben was right behind her.

"I guess that explains the second glass." Ben said laughing. "Well sweetheart are you going to introduce us to your friend."

Lucas turned around to face Ben and Katie. "I think we've met already."

Ben's smile dropped. The look that took over his face was in fact the opposite of a smile. "Lucas? What the hell are you doing in my daughter's bedroom?" He looked Lucas up and down, and the fact that all he was wearing was a sheet. "And _naked._"

Lucas recognized the look on Ben's face. He tried to explain "Look Ben, I had no idea she was your uh …" he motioned to the younger woman, then turned back to Ben. "I didn't even know you two had a daughter."

"Ah uh." Ben turned around and walked away. 

Katie looked at Ben's retreating back then turned back to Katie and Lucas. "We didn't. We adopted Kaitlyn after Seaquest…" Katie paused. "After you all disappeared, Ben and I realized that we wanted a family. I'll leave you two to get dressed." Katie walked away.

Lucas grabbed his boxers from the floor and put them on. He began searching the room for the rest of his clothes. Pulling on his pants he said her name. "Kaitlyn." Lucas scoffed at the word. "You couldn't even tell me your real name."

The younger woman grabbed a dress from the closet. "Would you even have talked to me if you knew that Ben was my father?" She pulled it on and stood there staring at him hands on her hips. "Katie _IS _my name. It's short for Kaitlyn. It was just dumb luck that my adopted mother was a Katharine who went by Katie too!"

"That's why she's Katie Krieg and not Katie Hitchcock. To avoid confusion." Ben had returned to the doorway of the bedroom. He walked into the room. Ben held a bat in his hands. "Well that and she's always been a bit of a daddy's girl." Ben stood swinging the bat back and forth.

"What are you gonna do with the bat Ben?..." Lucas looked a little nervous.

"This?" Ben laughed. "Not a thing. Except maybe break every bone in your body." Ben swung the bat at Lucas. Lucas fell back onto the bed, dropping the top half of his uniform

"Daddy!" Katie shouted. "Mom! Get in here!"

Lucas scrambled backwards off the bed as Ben brought the bat down in the middle of the bed. THUMP.

"Kaitlyn?" Katie Hitchcock ran into the room. "What's wrong?" She took one look at Ben. Bat in hand he stood staring at Lucas like hungry bear.

"Lucas and I are just having a little chat. That's all." Ben swung at Lucas again. And kept swinging.

Lucas was frantically trying to duck every blow and to get out of the room. He made it into the hallway before Ben made contact with his shoulder. SMACK. It hit him, just barely. Not enough to break anything, but enough to hurt like hell.

Lucas ran out to the living room and turned to face Ben. "Come one Ben. I'm you're friend."

"No your not," he seethed swinging at Lucas. Lucas ducked.

"Come on man, I didn't know."

"Lieutenant Krieg stop right this instant!" Katie Hitchcock commanded with her best Captain's voice, but it didn't work.

Ben swung again and Lucas fell back onto the couch. Ben raised the bat over his head.

"Ben…" His ex-wife and newly ex-friend called out his name trying to get him to stop. He wouldn't.

"DADDY!" All three of them stopped and turned to look at the girl who had just screamed at the top of her lungs. Ben stood with the bat poised over his head. "Daddy" she said in a normal, but strong tone "if you don't put that bat down this instant, I will never _ever EVER_ speak to you again!"

Ben looked at his daughter then back at Lucas. Then back at his daughter again.

"Alright." He took a step back from Lucas. "Alright." He put the bat down on the coffee table. Lucas moved towards it slowly, then grabbed it. He stood face to face with Ben.

"I'm glad you can see reason on this Ben."

Ben smirked at Lucas. "If I ever catch you near her again, a _bat_ will be the least of your worries." Lucas looked at Kaitlyn and back at Ben. "That won't be a problem." He said coldly.

He went to the bedroom, grabbed the rest of his clothes and came back out. Kaitlyn opened her mouth to speak. "Lucas I…"

"Don't even bother." Shooting one last glare at the girl and her father, and a semi apologetic look to her mother he left the apartment.

Ben turned to his daughter. "How could you sleep with Lucas? YOU are _not_ old enough to be having sex young lady!"

The young woman just shook her head and shot him a dirty look. Turning to her mother, she said "I have my meeting with McGath at 11, I gotta get ready." Turning she walked to the bedroom to get ready for her meeting with the Secretary General of the UEO.

The older Katie looked at Ben and shook her head as well. "Really Ben? A bat?"

"Well you wouldn't let me buy her a rifle."

"Because I knew what you would do with it." Katie turned to walk to the kitchen. "You'd better fix this Ben" she called over her shoulder.

"I know" he said to no one.


	4. New Policies and Broken Hearts

Ben decided he would wait until after Katie's meeting with McGath before he apologized. She certainly didn't want to talk to him when she'd stormed out earlier. He knew that she was going to get her new assignment today. He hoped it was good. He felt bad for her at the same time. This was going to be a hard day as it was, and he'd only made it worse. The UEO was enacting a new set of policies for their science contingent. That was why Katie had been waiting around Cape Quest. Most officers left OCS with their postings, but Katie, along with a few other science officers had been held back. One of the new policies stated that the Chief Science Officer of any science contingent or ship was required to have at least a PhD. The policy was to ensure that no more mistakes were made like the Achilles incident. Ben had heard about the incident from his daughter. An entire area had been killed of all marine life by an enzyme developed by a science officer who had never even studied biochemistry. The man had been completely illqualifed to develop something like that. The damage to the area had angered marine biologists and oceanographers to no end. They had demanded that the UEO become accountable. So they revamped all their science policies.

The only problem with the new policy was that there were several CSOs _without_ PhDs. Katie, along with a few others, would be sent into replace them. The poor girl was going to have to not only take on the heavy role of Chief Science Officer somewhere in the UEO, but she was going to have to do it in what would probably be a hostile environment. Nobody like being demoted. And nobody liked when a crewmen was demoted.

He wished he'd kept his cool earlier. After all, he'd been happy when he saw a boy in his daughter's bedroom. Not happy that she was having sex mind you, just that she'd finally done something besides hide in a lab, and had talked to someone besides a dolphin. But when he saw it was Lucas. He thought about the time Lucas snuck out to a party during the first tour… how he'd warned him not to do anything stupid, and Lucas admitted he wasn't ready. Ben wondered for a moment if that was the first time he'd been "stupid" or if his baby girl was just the latest in a long line.

Ironic that that same memory haunted him the day he found out he'd be adopting Katie. Kaitlyn. She was right about the dumb luck. He remembered the conversation he'd had with Katie- about how confusing two Katie Hitchcocks would be. That's when he asked to name her Krieg. _"Two Katie Hitchcock's? Come on Katie… one of you is more than enough!"_ That comment had earned him a slap or two, but also one of Katie's beautiful laughs. _"Your right Ben. One of us is enough. Besides, I always did like the sound of Katie Krieg...I would have changed my name when we got married- but then everyone would have known I was your wife!"_ Ben laughed at the memory.

He missed his Katie. _Both _his Katies Sometimes he wished he'd never gotten involved with rebels and politics, but he'd made his bed and now he had to lie in it. And he'd gone and ruined one of the few chances he had to see his two favorite girls.

"Mom! Are you still here?" Ben heard Katie come in the door.

"She's out" he called from the kitchen.

"Oh." Katie stood in the doorway looking at her father. He sat at the table with a book in front of him, but he wasn't reading it.

"I thought you two weren't coming until this afternoon."

"Launch was earlier than we thought."

"Are you still mad at me?"

"I dunno. Are you still mad at me?"

"Yes." She walked over and sat at the table. "No." Katie starred down at her hands for a moment before looking back at her father. "I'm mad at myself. I should have told Lucas who I was. That I knew who he was. I just..."

Katie looked at her dad with a dreamy look in her eyes. He was reminded of another Katie who once looked at him that way. Katie pulled a knee up to her chest and rested her chin on it. She kept staring into space, the dreamy look getting even deeper.

"You and mom used to tell me such funny stories about him. And then studying with Malcolm and vocoder… he revolutionized how we communicate with marine life. It's one of the greatest advancements in interspecies communication since gorillas learned sign language. I recognized him at the bar, and I was going to go over and introduce myself." She shook the dreamy look out of her eyes and put her foot back on the floor and looked at her father. "But then he came up to me, and started talking to me, and he was just so … so nice and sweet and charming. It's the first time I've ever met someone like that. Someone with a brain who wasn't a total egomaniac. I just _knew_ that if he knew you guys were my parents that he wouldn't take a second look at me. He offered to walk me home and I thought 'great, I'll let him walk me home and I'll tell him on the way'…" She trailed off.

"Why didn't you?" Ben asked.

"Because nobody ever looked at me like that dad."

"I've seen plenty of boys look at you."

She got out of the chair and started walking around the kitchen.

"Yes but never like _that._"

"Like _that_? Like what?"

"They're always attracted to me because I'm pretty and I'm some kind of prize, but once they find out how smart I am they're intimidated. And the ones who 'value' intelligence always want to show off how smart they are, because they're not intimidated, but motivated to show my up. Lucas didn't do that. I didn't hide being smart, I just hid the education part."

"How do you hide your education without hiding that you're smart?" Ben asked cocking his head to one side.

"We talked about music and movies all kinds of random things. And every time I had something to say, and not once did he make me feel like I was being a know-it-all. I didn't have to play dumb, but I didn't have to prove I was smart either." She stopped walking and leaned against the counter. "He liked me, for _me._ Not the looks or the brains…" she looked at her father, and he could see tears forming in her eyes. "He liked my heart daddy." She started to cry then. "And now I've ruined it."

Ben walked over and took her in his arms. "Shhh…shhh shhh… it's ok… you didn't ruin it… I did…and I'll make it better… I promise." Ben looked into his daughter's eyes. "I promise." Katie stopped crying for a moment.

"No" she sniffed "No you can't…I've been assigned to Seaquest… not only did I lie to him, but now I'm taking his dream away…"


	5. Demotion and Emotion

"I'm sorry Mr. Wolenkczak; I don't like it either, but its UEO policy."

"So I'm being demoted."

Captain Hudson tried to glare at his Ensign, but it was a bit difficult. The new policy was a pain, but it was policy. It wasn't fair, but then life rarely was.

"You are not being demoted Ensign, you are being reassigned. You will still be the Chief Computer Analyst, and a member of the science team. Just with a lot less paperwork."

Lucas starred at the desk in front of him. Great day he was having, first Ben tried to kill him, now he was being demoted. Sorry, _reassigned_.

"This shouldn't come as a surprise to you ensign, the UEO did send Seaquest a copy of the new regulations.

"Yes sir I just thought that I…that Seaquest might be exempt sir."

"You mean you thought that your IQ was a good enough substitute for a piece of paper."

"Yes sir."

"Well apparently it's not. Now our new CSO will be arriving within the hour, at which point we'll be leaving Cape Quest. I hope that you'll be on your best behaviour for the new doctor, and remember that it's not his fault that you've been dem-reassigned."

"Sir yes sir."

"Dismissed."

Lucas stood and went to walk out of the room. "Sir?"

"Yes Ensign?"

"Do you know who it is?"

"No but McGath assures me that we'll be getting the best."

_Bridge to Captain Hudson_. O'Neill's voice floated out over the intercom.

The Captain picked up his PAL. "Hudson."

"Sir we have a small submersible requesting to dock. She says she's a new science officer." Tim didn't repeat that she'd said _Chief_ science officer. He was sure the girl had been mistaken – overly eager. She had sounded pretty young. Besides, they already had a CSO.

"Permission granted Lieutenant. Have Commander Ford meet me and Ensign Wolenczak in the launch bay." The Captain clicked off his PAL and turned to Lucas who was still standing there, having heard most of the conversation. 

"Well Ensign let's go meet your new boss." Captain Hudson walked past Lucas and out into the corridor.

"Sir yes sir."

They got down to the launch bay in a matter of minutes. Commander Ford was already there, talking to a woman with long brown hair. For a moment Lucas was reminded of that morning, when he'd watched Katie brush her hair. It was almost the same color. _Wait a minute_, Lucas frowned. _It's exactly the same color._ Commander For saw the Captain and Lucas and motioned the woman towards them. As she turned to them revealing her face Lucas felt his own fall and fought the urge to turn around and walk out.

"Captain Hudson, I'd like to introduce you to Lieutenant Kaitlyn Krieg."

Captain Hudson extended his hand. "Welcome aboard Lieutenant Krieg."

"Doctor Krieg if you don't mind Captain, it helps avoid confusion. And thank you Captain, I'm glad to be here."

The Captain looked at the Commander and back at his new lieutenant. "You're not by any chance related to a Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg are you?"

Both Lucas and Katie looked uncomfortable at the mention of Ben. "Yes sir, he's my father. Sir."

The look on Hudson's face showed that he was less than thrilled to have another Krieg on board – he'd heard all about the last one. The Commander tried to patch things up.

"Ah the Lieutenant is also the daughter of Captain Katie Hitchcock. She served aboard Seaquest as its chief engineer at one point."

Captain Hudson laughed. "Oh well that's excellent. I've met your mother. Nice woman. Last I heard she was an ambassador though not a Captain, at least not anymore."

"Well she never really resigned from the navy sir, and kept her rank. She's recently left politics and is commanding the _H._ now sir."

"Well it's great to have you on board. Here let me introduce you to one of the people you'll be working with. This is Ensign Lucas Wolenczak." The Captain motioned to the man at his side. Neither Katie nor Lucas moved to acknowledge the other. The Captain noticed the tension and figuring that he knew the cause said "Ensign Wolenczak _was_ our Chief Science Officer, and our Chief Computer Analyst. With you being here, now he'll have a lot less work to do. Isn't that right Ensign."

"Yes sir." Lucas didn't break the cold stare that he had fixed on Katie.

The Captain clapped Lucas on the back and said "Well I will leave you in the excellent care of Ensign Wolenczak. He'll show you around the boat and to your quarters. Commander."

With that the Captain and the Commander left the launch bay.

"Lucas..." Katie started.

"The ship is really big, you'll probably get lost the first couple of times. This is of course the launch bay and if you follow me this way you'll find the science labs where you'll be working…" Lucas began talking about every inch of the ship and led Katie on the typical tour. When she tried to speak to him he would just walk faster or talk louder to drown her out. Finally she gave up.

He showed he the entire ship – or as much of it as was necessary. He was just glad that Darwin was out feeding so he didn't have to spend any more time with her than necessary. Finally he led her to her quarters.

"And these are your quarters; I hope you'll be comfortable, now if you'll excuse me I have work to do on the bridge." With that Lucas took off down the corridor.

"Lucas!" Katie followed Lucas down the corridor. "Lucas, will you let me explain." He didn't slow down.

"What's to explain? You're the new Chief Science Officer, congratulations."

Lucas ducked around a corner and headed for the clam doors to the bridge.

"Lucas!" He didn't stop. "Lucas!... Ensign Wolenczak I am ordering you to stop immediately." At that Lucas did stop, just inside the clam doors. He spun around "You can't order me to stop walking."

"Your damn right I can, I out rank you Ensign. I am a lieutenant and your superior so you're darn well going to listen to me." Katie was close enough to Lucas now that he could smell her lavender shampoo. _Stupid lavender._

"There's nothing that you can say that I want to hear."

"Would you just let me explain?" They were both talking loud enough for the bridge crew to all listen in, but neither noticed. "I didn't find out about this until this morning, when McGath told me."

"This morning." Lucas looked around and noticed the heads turned towards them. Everyone quickly went to work – looking like they were working. Lucas replied in a more quiet tone of voice "was that before or after your father tried to kill me." Lucas turned and went up the stairs to his station.

Katie threw her arm sin the air and moved in front of the platform "He didn't try to kill you… he just tried to maim you a little bit."

Lucas laughed snidely. "Yea right."

"Look, none of us knew where we were going to be stationed. All I knew – all any one knew was that the UEO was bringing in the new policy about all CSOs needing specific qualifications, namely a PhD which I am sorry to remind you Lucas, you do not have."

"Just another thing you forgot to mention right, along with your name rank, and overall identity."

"Well maybe this just goes to show that you don't belong as the Chief Science Officer" Katie crossed her arms and starred at Lucas.

"Why because I'm telling you your wrong." Lucas starred back.

"No." Katie moved as close as she could to the platform and Lucas. In a quiet voice she said "because everyone in the science community knew about the new policy and you if you can't even keep up with the UEO's science regulations than you have no business as a science officer- chief or otherwise." With that Katie walked over to Commander Ford who suddenly found his console very interesting.

"Commander Ford." She said nodding her head.

"Lieutenant- ah Doctor Krieg" he responded with a nod as well. With that the Lieutenant left the bridge.


	6. Changing the World

_A ten year old brunette sat patiently on the porch swing of a big white beach house. She was reading Mary Wollstonecraft's The Wrongs of Woman.. She thought it was sad that people- that women- had been treated that horrible. That's what Ben and Katie are fighting she thought. Each one was fighting for equality- albeit in different ways. Ben was still a naval officer- fighting the good fight. Katie had finished her work on the spectre, and it was moving into production. McGath was talking to her about possibly becoming ambassador to the newly-formed Macronessian alliance. If they did that, then the beach house would only be their home sometimes, they'd spend most of their time in Macronesia. The girl frowned. Katie, her adopted mother, would be spending her time there. Why were they even making her ambassador anyway… She tried to be mad but she couldn't. She knew why. Katie had spent the last two years not only designing submersibles but also smoozing with all the UEO high rollers and tons of CEO's in the private sector to try and make sure she got funding where she wanted it. She'd made a lot of friends along the way, and very few enemies. Which was surprising because no matter who she was talking to, Katie always spoke her opinion about the UEO and other politics. Things like the need for GELF equality- that one was definitely not a crowd pleaser. Why do people think GELF are inferior? Doesn't make sense, they were designed to be better than humans. The girl turned her mind away from her mother and back to her book. No need to get upset until there's a reason. She was trying to get through the list of books her English teacher had given her – she was reading all Austen's contemporaries this week, Burney, Wollstonecraft, Edgeworth. She liked Wollstonecraft the best so far. _

_She noticed the postman walking up to the neighbour's porch and dropping off the mail. She picked up her bookmark and marked her place. It was a girly- kiddie bookmark, purple with a unicorn on it, but she loved it. Ben had given it to her. I know you're a genius and everything but I figured you needed a dash of childness for all those adult books. Ben always understood her that way. Her mom tended to get caught up in her genius, always pushing her – not pushing her past her limits but pushing her to do her best and make use of her talents. Sometimes her mom forgot that she was still just a ten year old and needed to do ten year old things. Ben was good for that. He always reminded mom that dolls and parks and playing were just as important as books and learning. And purple unicorn bookmarks. _

_The postman had made it over to their house and placed the mail in the box at the end of the walkway. The girl jumped up and ran down to the box. She flipped the red tab down – Ben had insisted that they needed a real mailbox- red tag included. Sifting through the mail she stopped as she found one addressed to her. _

_This is it… She opened it right there. Reading through quickly, she grinned and ran up to the house. _

"_Mom! Katie!" She yelled bursting through the door. "Katie! Katie come quick!"_

_The girl ran into her mother's study. Oops. She was on the vid-link with McGath. Secretary General McGath. _

"_I've got to go, I'm sorry, I'll call you back later." Katie hung up the vid-link. Turning around she said "What's wrong? Are you ok?"_

_The girl blushed. "I'm sorry. I…I didn't know you were talking to the secretary general…It wasn't that important… you can call him back, I'll tell you later."_

_The girl turned to leave but her mother noticed the pile of papers in her hand. "Is that the mail?" Her mother's face lit up with excitement. "Did you get one, is that what you wanted to tell me?"_

_The girl tried to keep a composed face as she handed the letter to her mother. _

_Her mother read through the letter quickly. "Yale? You got into Yale? Oh sweetheart!" She hugged her daughter close. Kneeling to look her in the eye she said "I am SO proud of you. You have done an amazing job, and this is a really big accomplishment." Here Katie paused. "You've worked really hard, and I am proud of you. I know that it was scary to start high school so early, but Ben and I are so, SO proud that you lived up to your potential." Here Katie paused again. She looked her daughter straight in the eye. "But you don't have to go to university yet sweetie. You didn't have to finish high school so fast, but I know you wanted to. I want you to know that it's ok if you want to take a break now and just have fun then that's ok with me."_

_She looked at her mother for a minute, and then laughed. "Ben told you to say that didn't her."_

_Her mother's serious face faded into a smile. "Yes he did, but that doesn't mean I don't mean it."_

_They both stood there quiet for a moment before the younger Katie said "I think" She paused for dramatic effect, "I think that I want to wait and see who else wants me." She grinned. "Can I call and tell Ben now thought?"_

"_Of course you can." Her mother walked over to the vid-link and dialled. A few minutes later they had connected to Ben's ship and he appeared on the vid-link._

"_Well well well if it isn't my favourite ladies. What can I do for you?"_

"_Ben guess what? I got into Yale!"_

"_That's great! Wow… Yale… I'm proud of you, you know that right?"_

"_Yea, mom said you guys were."_

"_Did she also tell you that it's ok if you want to wait?"_

"_She did… I want to wait and see who else lets me in."_

_Ben nodded thoughtfully. "Smart move. Play the field, let them work for you."_

"_She's a bit young to be 'playing the field' Ben." The elder Katie said jokingly, using air quotes around 'playing the field'._

_Ben got a serious look on his face. It was a rare sight. "She'll never be old enough for that. And don't you think that's mature talk for a ten year old?"_

"_It's ok daddy, I know all about sex."_

_Katie and Ben looked at the girl with shock on their faces at the use of that word. Surprisingly, the shock was not because their ten year old had used the word sex, but because she had said daddy. She never called Ben anything but Ben, and only called Katie mom sometimes._

_Ben stared at her. "You just called me daddy…"_

_She blushed. "I won't, if you don't like it."_

_Ben grinned. "No no, I like it. I wish you'd say it more often."_

_She grinned back. "Ok… Daddy." _

_Just then they heard a voice calling Lieutenant Krieg to the bridge. _

"_Well that's me ladies. Time to go save the world again."_

"_You've got it wrong daddy."_

_"How's that now?"_

_"You're not supposed to save the world, you're supposed to change it so it doesn't need saving." _


	7. Beautiful Katies

Ben was thinking about the first day that Katie had called him "daddy." The two Katies had called him while he was serving on the ship _Aquino_. He had loved being the morale officer on Seaquest and had equally enjoyed it on the Clinton under his ex-wife but a change was needed. Ben had stayed on the Clinton for exactly one month after Katie left before he put in a transfer to the base in Cape Quest. He was denied, but the navy reposted him to a ship based out of the Cape- a research vessel that didn't venture too far away from North America, put into shore at least once a month_ and_ was the vessel signed on to participate in the test runs for Katie's new submersible. Ben always suspected that Katie had pulled some strings to do that. He saw his girls almost as much as he would have were he to have been posted on land, and this way he didn't have to completely surrender his freedom.

He supposed that Katie thought he needed that – freedom- but from the first day he met their daughter he had wanted nothing more than to spend every waking moment with her.

_Ben walked into the living room at the children's home where he was supposed to meet Katie to pick up their daughter. He walked in to see his ex-wife sitting at the piano with a little girl about eight years old. She had beautiful brown hair pulled back into a braid. The two of them were laughing while the little girl showed the older woman how to play a simple duet on the piano. Ben watched for a few moments before approaching them. _

"_Well it looks like I've got two beautiful girls all to myself." They both stopped playing and turned to face Ben who stood there with a huge grin on his face. The little girl looked a bit scared, her eyes wide with fear. In her mind she was afraid of her new father not liking her. Ben could see the apprehension in her eyes and did what he did best to relieve the situation – he told a joke._

"_Hi I'm Ben. You must be Kaitlyn. Katie, you never told me that you had a younger sister, although, why your parents gave you such similar names is beyond me."_

"_Ben." Katie shook her head at him as she tried not to laugh. _

_The little girl stood up and stuck her hand out. "It's a pleasure to meet you Ben." _

"_The pleasure is all mine."_

Ben had loved her from that moment on. She'd answered him with a straight face, but her eyes were laughing. In that moment he'd decided she was the most darling and sweetest child on the planet.

The day on the _Aquino_ had changed his life. He was someone's_ daddy_ and she was right about the need to change the world. He had tried from then on, in his own way, to try and save the world. He ran for president (and lost) – he attributed his loss to the country's lack of humour. He'd slowly lost hope over the ten years that Seaquest was gone. Finally he though he had found a way to change things. He was part of a mission to Macronesia to provide humanitarian aid to those who had been victim of Bourne's rise to power. While there, his team was attacked and killed- along with a large portion of the Macronesians. They had fled, Ben had believed that the UEO would help but they hadn't. He was crushed. He decided then that he would give up on the UEO. Kaitlyn was almost eighteen, she didn't need him and Katie was going back to commanding ships. In the refugees he found he was needed. Miraculously, just when he had decided that the UEO wasn't worth it, Seaquest had appeared – and Lucas. Reminding him of hope. He had turned down Lucas' offer to stay on Seaquest, partially because he wanted to go back out to try and change the world, but also because he realized that he was still needed by both his Katies. Sure they were going off to do new things – but they were still a family. Ben had realized that it was a fear of being left behind that had made him willing to stay away.

When he'd returned to Cape Quest, his girls had cried. They had thought him lost with the mission, and had berated him for taking too long to let them know he was ok. That was the week he bought the strawberry wine for his daughter.

Ben shook his head. Every thought he had kept pulling him back to Lucas and Katie and the problems he knew his baby girl would have. He really wanted to fix it. The more he thought about it, the more perfect he thought they were for each other. He knew them both almost as well as he knew himself- and in his daughter's case even better.

Now all he had to do was to think of a way to bring them together.

A light bulb went off in Ben's head and a giant smile spread across his face. He just had to make a few calls…


	8. Mess in the Mess Hall

Author's note: Against the very fibre of my being I am going AU. Ortiz is alive. You can't begrudge me for straying just a little bit! (Sigh… I am very particular about wanting to stay in cannon… there's a line a few chapters back that's driving me crazy because it is slightly off… grrr )

"So Luke. What's going on with you and the hot doc?"

Lucas had just joined Piccolo, O'Neil and Ortiz in the mess hall for dinner.

Lucas stiffened at the question. It had only been a few hours since his confrontation with Katie on the bridge and he was still angry about it. How dare she call him out like that? And in front of the entire bridge crew too! He was livid at what she had said, she was the bad guy, _and she's _the one who lied. He was also angry at the UEO for demoting him, Hudson for letting it and himself for not knowing the damn protocol – but he redirected that anger towards Katie as well. If Lucas could calm his temper he would realize that it was well deserved but in the interim he was just angry.

"None of your business Tony. And I told you not to call me Luke" Lucas barked at him.

"Sorry!" Tony held up his hands. "I was just curious. You know pretty girl, small boat. I figure that if you're not tapping that then one of us is bound to." Tony's face was covered in a smirk. "Wouldn't want your toes getting stepped on anymore than they already are" Tony paused again to make sure he had everyone's attention "you know, what with your being _reassigned_."

"You're really enjoying this aren't you Tony." Lucas replied, his voice laced with anger.

Tony chuckled. Lucas was his friend, but it was nice to see the kid put in his place a little bit. He didn't realize just how much the _reassignment_ bothered Lucas- and he really didn't know about him and Katie. Lucas stood up to walk away.

"You know what your problem is? Sex. You ain't getting enough of it. You get yourself laid and you'll definitely…" Tony didn't get to finish his thought because Lucas' fist was too busy colliding with his mouth. Tony fell backwards off the chair. He stared up at Lucas, the shock written across his face.

"You know what your problem is Tony?" Mimicked Lucas. "You're smart enough to get a promotion" Lucas leaned in "but you're still too stupid to know when to shut your mouth."

Lucas turned to leave the room. Everyone was shocked. Their attention had turned to the pair the moment Tony fell out of the chair. Some had seen Lucas hit him, most hadn't seen but they all heard the words Lucas spoke. They didn't know what Tony had done to piss off his best friend, but it must have been something big to make the kid snap.

Lucas managed two steps before he heard a yell and felt himself being pushed to the ground. Tony was on top of him then, punching him. Lucas fought back and despite Tony having more fighting experience managed to flip him on his back. Lucas pounded his fists into Tony. Every time he felt his fist connect he felt a bit of his anger disappear.

_Stupid Tony. Stupid Policy. G-D DAMN STUPID KATIE! _His mind screamed.

Lucas felt hands on his shoulders and felt himself being pulled away. Ford was holding him yelling at him while Ortiz and O'Neil were holding Tony. Tony's nose looked like it was broken and he would probably have a few dozen bruises but he looked like he would be fine.

"What is going on here?" demanded the commander.

Both men stopped fighting at the question.

"Ask _Ensign _Wolenczak sir," spat Tony putting a venomous emphasis on the word ensign.

"Lucas, what the hell is going on?" asked Commander Ford.

"Nothing sir." He replied. "Just a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?" The commander glared at him questioningly

"Yea. Warrant Officer Piccolo doesn't _understand_ when to shut his big mouth" replied Lucas in a sickly sweet tone.

"Learn to take a joke kid" screamed Piccolo.

"Alright I don't care what happened, you're both getting punished and I'm reporting this incident to the captain. Now your break ends in …" Ford looked at his watch "five minutes so I suggest you two get back to your posts."

Lucas and Tony glared at each other as they moved towards the door, O'Neil and Ortiz close behind. "And gentlemen." They both stopped and turned around. "I expect you to resolve whatever the problem is. I don't want to have to assign either of you new quarters." Ford punctuated the last two words with a look not at Tony and Lucas but Ortiz and O'Neil

Tony and Lucas turned and stalked out of the mess hall and headed to the bridge, both taking different routes. O'Neil and Ortiz looked at each other for a moment realizing the problem that Ford had pointed out. If the two friends continued to fight how could they possibly room together? And who would Ford have to trade? Miguel and Tim had finally managed to get bunked together- the idea of either of them getting put with Lucas or Tony was terrifying. It wasn't that they didn't like their friends- it was just that they liked them for a few select times of the day- and bedtime was not one of them.


	9. New Transfers

Author's note: I'm currently studying publishing in Canada. My copy editing class actually approached the subject of capitalization in regards to rank and titles for army personnel. So from this point on I will be following the rules for that (mostly to get in the proper habit). I may go back and fix the other chapters but I doubt I will have time. Just don't want anyone asking wth or pointing out my lack of continuity. Lol

"Sir we have an incoming message from Secretary General McGath" said Lieutenant O'Neil from the com.

"I'll take it in the ward room lieutenant." Captain Hudson turned and walked off of the bridge and headed to the ward room._ What does that man want now _thought Hudson._ Last time he called me I ended up with a new officer and an irate ensign._ The captain understood Wolenczak's anger at the change but he believed that the boy could have handled the situation better. He'd heard a few rumours around the ship about the cause of the confrontation between Krieg and Wolenczak on the bridge, rumours most likely started by Piccolo – and he'd heard about the Piccolo confrontation too. The captain sighed. Wolenczak was letting his emotions rule his actions and it was starting to become problematic. There hadn't been any more outbursts in the month since the doctor had come on board, but the captain was still worried about Wolenczak turning into a loose cannon- if he wasn't already.

The captain switched on the vid link and the secretary-general's face flooded the screen.

"Mr. Secretary."

"Oliver, I was calling to tell you about a new addition to your crew."

"Let me guess, Dagwood isn't a trained janitor so you've found someone else" replied the captain.

McGrath sighed. "I know your upset about Ensign Wolenczak, but Dr. Krieg should be more than willing to supervise a PhD thesis should Wolenczak decide to pursue one, at which point I'd be more than willing to return the role of chief science officer to him."

The captain glared at McGath but kept his mouth shut.

"I'm calling you to tell you that I'm reinstating another position on Seaquest. One that hasn't been filled since Bridger's first tour- I've even managed to fill the post with its original holder. He'll be there within the hour."

"Oh really. And what post is that?" Hudson asked sarcastically.

"Supply and morale officer." With that the secretary-general hung up.

_Damn_. Thought the captain. This couldn't possibly be good.


	10. Supply and Morale

Author's note: I took liberties with military policy. I doubt the exception that I created would work in the real world but it works in mine.

"Bridge to Captain Hudson." Lieutenant O'Neil's voice filled the com.

"On my way Lieutenant" replied Hudson, heading towards the bridge. He made it there in record time.

"What's going on Lieutenant?"

"Sir we have a UEO vessel requesting permission to dock- they say they're carrying new personnel."

"Damn." Hudson thought he'd have more time. "I'll meet them in the launch bay" he replied as he turned around and left the bridge for the second time in as many hours.

_Weird_ thought Tim. _ First Doctor Krieg and now more mystery personnel? What is going on?_

The captain reached the launch bay just as the hatch was opening. A man came through and saluted.

"Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg reporting for duty sir."

"At ease soldier." Ben dropped his salute and his signature grin spread across his face.

"Nice to see you again captain."

"I wish I could say the same. Now are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Well sir" began Ben "it seems the UEO thought your ship could use a bit more morale."

"I see." Hudson took a step closer. "And they decided to disregard the policy about relatives serving together."

"Ah no. Actually since Kati- I mean Doctor Krieg is adopted the policy doesn't actually apply – well it does, but there's the factor of my being divorced from her mother and a bunch of other loopholes that someone took the time to find." _Or to make_ thought Ben devilishly. "I'm sure McGath would be happy to explain it to you. I myself am a bit confused about it."_ Confused… sure. _

Hudson balked a bit at the mention of the secretary –general. He wasn't in the mood to fight with him right now. And it occurred to him that having the lieutenant on board might help with the loose cannon he had walking around. If Wolenczak could talk sense into Lieutenant Krieg on the iceberg, maybe Krieg could talk some sense into Wolenczak – and his daughter. The captain grinned.

"Welcome aboard lieutenant."


	11. Lemmings

Katie Krieg sat in her laboratory on Seaquest. She'd been hiding out there for the past month._ It isn't hiding. I'm supposed to be here _she thought. That was at least partially true. Her role on Seaquest was to provide scientific intelligence when the occasion called for it. The perks of being assigned to Seaquest was access to all the labs and equipment as well as the bridge and things like WSKRS when she needed/wanted them. Just as long as they weren't required to help save the world.

So while the lab was hers to work in, she didn't_ have_ to be there. It just seemed like the better option.

After the confrontation with Lucas, Katie had gone back through his personnel file and his science background to try and find a way to help him get his job back. She knew if he earned a PhD he could take her place when she chose to leave. She thought that if she found a project he'd like, she could supervise and once he had his degree she would resign. It would mean giving up the ideal job on Seaquest, but she thought that it was worth it if it would help mend the rift between them.

That was her plan at least until she read through all of Seaquest's science files. And then the ships logs. What she'd found in them had made her see red. The incident in the Sargasso Sea had been caused _Seaquest._ Some twelve years earlier, Seaquest had used Firma21 to clean up a Dioxin spill in the Bermuda Rise. The synthetic microbe had drifted and mutated until it reached the Sargasso Sea where it began killing marine life.

That incident was the reason for the UEO's new policy. Not many details had been given out except that a microbe had destroyed marine life and that the UEO treated it with an enzyme resulting in a total breakdown of the local ecosystem. The science community had demanded an inquest which revealed that the UEO had done _two_ treatments. The first had mutated the microbe further and caused more damage, the second had repaired the damages caused by the microbe and the enzyme. What also came out in the inquest was that the first enzyme was created by a science personnel whose expertise was in technology _not _biology and that the second was also created by the same science officer- only under the supervision of a semi-credible scientist. Their names were kept secret, as they were military but the science community still demanded retribution. The success of their second enzyme was deemed dumb luck. So it was decided on, and new policy enacted, that all ships which were engaged in any science research were to have an expert on board – someone with a minimum of a PhD in marine life, biology or any relevant discipline.

She understood now why the secretary-general was so eager to place her on Seaquest. Because of Seaquest's role as the UEO flagship, and her ability to go deeper than any other sub she dealt with more science than any other military submarine. In addition to her PhD in marine veterinary medicine she also had master's degrees in marine biology and biophysics. Katie had read through every incident Seaquest had encountered since they returned from cryo-stasis. The incident with the iceberg, and the Sargasso Sea were just the beginning. Lucas had been acting the expert on all things science when he had absolutely no expertise at all.

It made Katie angrier than she'd ever been. She was angry at Hudson for his arrogance- removing all non-military personnel had left the ship with some of the worst scientists on the planet, and yet they were still expected to maintain the science standard from before the stasis.

And Lucas. She couldn't even think about him without wanting to punch something. How _dare_ he act so injured over this when it was _his _fault! He wasn't qualified to do half the things he'd done and an entire ecosystem had failed because of it! She'd felt bad about telling him he didn't belong as a science officer. Now she just wanted to go up and scream it at him over and over again until it sunk in. She hadn't really seen him since their encounter, they occasionally ended up in the mess hall at the same time but when they did she just grabbed her food and returned to the lab.

She was avoiding him like the plague, trying to reign her emotions in. She just couldn't believe his arrogance! He should never have created that enzyme- he should have contacted someone who knew what they were doing! Just looking at the data made her wince. She now had access to information that the inquest hadn't released and she had seen right away the flaws in the first enzyme.

"Humph" she let out an exasperated breathe. "Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid and more stupid."

"Aww come on now Katie, nothing's that stupid-well except maybe lemmings, that whole mass suicide thing is just ridiculous."


	12. Boosting Morale

Katie whipped her head around at the voice. _That sounded just like dad._ She stopped when her eyes met the dark haired man in the doorway of her lab. _Now I know I've spent too much time here- I'm starting to hallucinate!_

"Daddy?" she asked cautiously.

"In the flesh" said Ben moving away from the door and towards her desk.

Katie starred at him incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to escort you to lunch. I figured if I know you, which I do, that you would be too busy obsessing over your work to eat and would need a bit of a kick to do it."

Katie rolled her eyes with a shake of her head and repeated. "What are you doing _here_?" Ben opened his mouth and Katie cut him off. "Here on Seaquest, not here in my lab."

"Didn't you hear" Ben grinned mischievously. "I'm the new supply and morale officer."

"But you can't be here!" She exclaimed jumping up off her chair. "We're not allowed to serve together!" She frowned and sat back down. Looking up at her father with tears visible in her eyes she asked him "Am I being fired?"

"What? No!" Ben realized his mistake in not fully explaining himself right away and took his daughter in his arms. "No no, there's apparently a few flaws in the UEO policy that allow us to work together. It's complicated, and it took a lot of work to find them, but I'm here and I'm staying and so are you." He hugged his daughter close to his chest.

"Flaws in the policy?" Katie looked up at him wiping the tears from her face. "What kind of flaws?"

Ben flashed her a big grin. "Something about divorced spouses and adopted children. Seems if your ex-wife, or ex-husband I suppose, adopts a child with you the UEO recognizes your rights as a parent but also recognizes that the bond won't be the same. There's something about being required to share a residence for a certain amount of time- which we don't meet. I blame my time at sea." Ben flashed her another grin, his eyes glowing with mischief.

Katie slowly got out of his lap. "And just how new are these policies?" Her voice was filled with reproach but he could see the excitement in her eyes.

"About three weeks."

"And you waited this long to get here?"Katie shouted in mock indignation and swatted her father's arm playfully.

"Hey not my fault! Blame politics!"

"I'm glad you're here daddy." Katie relaxed into his hug again and her voice took on a sad look. She looked up at him with sadness in her eyes he had never seen. "Thank you."

"Well be sure to thank your mother too. She's the one who convinced the secretary-general to let me come back."

"I will." She stood up. "In fact" he eyes twinkled with mischief "I think I'll do it right now. Come on."

Katie led her father from the lab to her private office where her personal vid-link was set up.

As Katie dialled in the correct numbers Ben looked around the office. He let out a whistle. "Well you've sure done well for yourself. And a private vid-link?" He looked at her in a bit of awe. "Nice. I can see I picked the wrong department."

Katie laughed as the vid-link waited to connect. Suddenly her mother's face appeared on the screen. She'd dialled directly into her office using a code to inform her mother who it was.

"KATIE! How are you? I haven't heard from you since you got on Seaquest! How are you? Are you eating? How's the lab?" The ambassador's voice was full of excitement and worry at the same time.

"I'm fine, I was busy. Of course I'm eating, and the lab is amazing!" Katie replied enthusiastically. "But that's not why I called. I need to talk to you." Katie pulled her face into a stern look.

Ambassador Hitchcock was surprised by the serious look on her daughter's face. "Is everything okay?" she asked tentatively.

"No actually it's not. What did you mean sending me _THIS?_" At the word _this_ she pulled Ben into view of the screen and her mother's worried face broke out into a grin.

"Well someone had to watch over you." She relaxed a little seeing Ben. She had been waiting for his call to let her know he'd arrived safe.

"Thanks. I'm glad he's here." Katie and her mother chatted amicably for a few more minutes catching each other up on everything before Katie stopped her.

"I'm sorry mom, but I've got to go. As much as I'm allowed to use the vid-link as often as I want I'd rather not draw attention to the fact and we've been talking way longer than usual. Plus daddy and I were just about to get lunch."

"Oh. Alright. Well send me an email later ok?"

"I will mom. Bye." Katie reached to switch off the vid-link when her mother's voice came through again.

"Oh and Ben?"

Ben had been quiet and in the background the whole time his two girls had been talking but now he moved right in front of the screen. "Yea Katie."

"Keep an eye on her. Or else." His ex-wife flashed him a wicked grin and ended the vid-call.

Ben smiled. That woman had the uncanny ability unnerve him and turn him on at the same time. He turned to his daughter and extended his arm.

"Shall we?" With that the two of them headed to the mess hall.


	13. How do you get everything you want?

Author's Note: Thanks for everyone whose reading and reviewing! I wish more people would lol Although I discovered that by having an M rating, the story doesn't show up unless you specifically look for M rated hence the rating change. It wasn't really an M anyway, I just wasn't sure in the beginning how the ratings really worked.

Katie was two steps into the mess hall before she wanted to turn around and run back to the lab. Lucas was sitting next to Dagwood, with Ortiz, O'Neil and Piccolo. She was surprised at the last member of their party. She'd heard that Piccolo and Lucas got into a fist fight about a month earlier and rumour had it that they were still on thin ice with each other. Although from what she'd heard, everyone was on thin ice when it came to the ensign. Apparently he'd been snapping at people all month. That was the other reason she had been hiding in the lab. She didn't think the world revolved around her, but she couldn't help but believe the young ensign's snarky attitude had something to do with her arrival- and her betrayal. She was mad, he was mad, it was safer for everyone to work through the paperwork and all the basic research she needed to do before she started in on the bridge with the WSKRS and in the moon pool with Darwin.

Katie sighed. She'd been so excited to work with the original vocorder and Darwin, but each time she tried to access the programming she'd been locked from making any changes. Seemed that only the ships computer systems analyst could access and change that information. She knew that if she ordered it she'd be giving an access code – she just didn't think she could do it politely.

She sighed again.

"Careful Katie, you know if you sigh enough you start losing brain cells" Ben joked with her.

Katie rolled her eyes and chuckled. "As if" she replied, her mind still elsewhere.

"It's true!" Ben retaliated with an affronted look on his face. "It's been scientifically proven."

"And just what do you know about science?" she teased.

Ben looked at her and replied with the most serious face he could. "Absolutely nothing."

Katie laughed, a real laugh, their banter finally dragging her mind away from work and the problems with Lucas. Ben continued to tease her while they grabbed their food. They went back and forth with insults, distracting Katie so much that she didn't see where they were headed to sit.

"Please, remember when you tried to install the new vid screen? You practically blew up the house!" Katie was still laughing as she sat down next to her father.

"Well Ben always was bad at anything requiring the slightest amount of intelligence."

Katie stopped laughing at the sound of the new voice to join their conversation. She looked up and stared straight into a pair of beautiful ocean blue eyes- eyes which were glaring at her like ice.

Before she could respond Ortiz joined the conversation.

"You mean like when he tried to sell everyone fish poop that he thought was some underwater jewel?" Ortiz said.

"Yea, any idiot would have done a bio sample first" chimed in O'Neil.

The two men started laughing.

"Oh really" said Ben leaning into the table. "Then tell me this. Why did neither one of you do a bio test hmm?"

"Oh uh"

"I thought you had already…"

Both men fumbled to cover their own mistake.

"That's what I thought." Ben shot them a serious look then broke out his trademark grin.

"And at least I know better than to call a woman vapid" Ben continued winking at O'Neil.

"Hey who told you about…"

"What are you doing here Ben?" The laughter and friendly banter at the table stopped instantly as Lucas' harsh voice cut into the conversation like a knife. They all turned to see the daggers Lucas' was glaring at Ben. Ortiz, O'Neill, and Piccolo were confused. Dagwood was paying too much attention to the pain in Katie's eyes to look at Lucas or Ben.

"I mean aren't there rules about family members serving together" at that Lucas turned his gaze back to Katie "or is this another change in UEO policy."

"Actually it is a new policy" Ben intervened, not liking the look that Lucas was shooting at Katie.

"Well congratulations Doctor Krieg" Lucas kept his glare on Katie. "Seems all the new policies work to your benefit. If only we could all have your luck." Lucas stood to leave the table. "Then again with someone like you it's probably more than luck." Shooting one last glare at Katie he turned to walk away.

"What do you mean, someone like me?" Katie finally found her voice, but Lucas kept walking. She stood up quickly, and raising her voice repeated "I asked you what that's supposed to mean _Ensign_ Wolenczak."

Lucas was almost at the door, when he stopped and turned to answer her. "Come on doc, the most coveted science position in the UEO, exceptions made so your _daddy_" Lucas said 'daddy' in a mocking tone while gesturing to Ben "could serve with you. Makes me wonder how many lies you had to tell to get it all." Lucas paused before continuing "Or how many officials you slept with to get what you wanted."

With that Lucas left the mess hall leaving Ben angry enough to kill him and the rest of his crewmates to wonder what had turned the young man so bitter in so short a time.


	14. Cleaning Up the Mess Mess

Ben's face went dark and he moved towards the door of the mess hall intent on following Lucas and killing him. Katie grabbed her father before he could follow Lucas and dragged him to her quarters.

"That little punk, when I get my hands on him… Ooo he's gonna get it," Ben ranted the whole way and continued after Katie had shut the door to her quarters. He was too busy ranting to notice that Katie was silently sobbing.

"Who the hell does he think he is, the little—" Ben stopped when he saw the tears streaming down Katie's face.

"Come here" he said pulling her into a tight hug. "It'll be alright, shhh, shhh. It's ok." Ben stroked her hair trying to calm her down. "Daddy will take care of everything." The last line was said with a hint of maliciousness as Ben plotted all the ways he was going to hurt Lucas.

"No Daddy," Katie pushed away from her father and started drying her tears. "I don't care."

"Yeah, the tears cascading down your face scream 'I don't care'," Ben's voice was slowly rising with each word. "When I get done with that little brat he won't know what hit him." By then Ben was yelling.

"Please just butt out. I can handle it."

"I can see how you "handle it"; you let the little jerk get away with whatever he wants. You're his superior officer; you should put him in his place."

"Look, I will handle this in my way, in my own time so just butt out!" Katie's voice was beginning to rise too.

"So I should just sit back and let that annoying little know-it-all say what he wants?"

"You're just going to make things worse," said Katie stubbornly.

Ben was just about to retaliate when they heard a knock on the door.

"Go away!" Ben snarled at the door.

The knocking persisted. Whoever it was they were very persistent.

"Go—"

"Dad, this is still my room! Stop answering for me, I'll see who it is and then _I'll_ decide if I want them to go away!" Katie shouted at Ben.

Katie opened the door and found herself face to face with Ortiz, O'Neil and Dagwood, who had something over his shoulder – correction. Who had Piccolo over his shoulder.

"Put me down Dag!" Tony shouted.

"You heard the man, put him down," replied Ortiz.

"Inside if you don't mind," added O'Neil.

Dagwood walked into Katie's quarters and deposited Piccolo on the bed. Tim and Miguel followed them in shutting the door behind them.

"Who do you think you are, barging in here? Get out!" yelled Ben.

"Gladly," said Piccolo, standing and moving towards the door.

"Oh no you don't, Dagwood stop him!" said Miguel.

Dagwood moved in front of the door. Now no one could leave until he moved.

"What do you want?" asked Katie suddenly very very tired.

"Nothin, I don't want nothin," said Tony.

"We wanna know what's going on with you and Lucas," replied Miguel, ignoring Tony.

"We _need _to know," added Tim softly.

Katie stood up straight and erased all emotion from her face. "There's nothing going on with me and Ensign Wolenczak, so I suggest you all leave. You too dad, I'm tired." Katie moved towards the door to signal that the visit was over, but Dagwood refused to move.

"Mr. Dagwood, if you don't mind," Katie wasn't sure how to address Dagwood or how to interact with him. She'd only seen the Dagger while in the mess hall or when he was cleaning the lab-which he usually did when she wasn't there.

"No." Dagwood answered sternly. "Something IS going on. Lucas made you sad, and then he said the bad things that made you cry. It's not right. And Miguel and Tim said that we have to find out why so Lucas doesn't get into trouble. Lucas is my friend. I want to help him."

Katie stared at the giant man before her. Her eyes teared up at his words. _So Dagwood noticed how hurt I was around Lucas, even before that snide comment. I guess he isn't as dumb as people think._

"I want to help him too Dagwood," Katie answered slowly.

"Then tell us what's going on," interjected Miguel. "Today he was insubordinate to a superior office. If Ford and Hudson find out – which they will- they'll be forced to punish him."

"He's already been warned. If this doesn't damage his career than the next time will," added Tim.

"It's not just his career either," Miguel finished. "He's this close to losing every friend he's got."

Katie stared at the two men. "I don't know what you expect me to do about it."

"Besides he deserves everything he gets," Ben said angrily. Katie knew he'd been too quiet.

Tim and Miguel started defending Lucas and arguing with Ben about whether Lucas was a jerk or not and how big and whether he deserved to have his career destroyed- or worse.

Katie shrank back away from the group as the yells got louder and louder. Tony saw her trying to hide in the corner, trying not to cry. That's when he made up his mind. Ortiz and O'Neil had dragged him down here to help Lucas, and he hadn't wanted to - after the way Lucas was acting, he deserved what he got. But the pretty doctor didn't. Whatever she had done, she didn't deserve to be subjected to insults and screaming.

"ALRIGHT SHUT IT," yelled Tony. The other three men stopped yelling and stared at him.

"Look," Tony said pointing at Katie who still had her head in her hands. "We're as bad as Lucas the way were treating Doctor Krieg."

At the sound of her name, Katie lifted her head, to see the four men starring at her.

"Whatever is going on with Lucas and the doc, and Lucas and everyone else it has to stop," Tony continued. "And we have to stop attacking each other, 'cuz it's not helping."

"Tony's right," said Tim, being the first to calm down.

"Yeah, you are Piccolo. But we still need to know what's going on," replied Miguel looking pointedly at Katie.

"The only thing you need is to get out of here before I rearrange your face!" snarled Ben.

"No." All eyes turned back to Katie at the one word. "No," she repeated.

"No we can stay, or no you won't tell," asked Dagwood confused. The others wondered the same thing.

Katie sighed. She really shouldn't betray Lucas' trust anymore. But was it worth keeping what happened a secret if it meant his career and her sanity? Besides, _technically_ she could tell her friends, and for the moment that's how she was going to classify the men before her. "Tea anyone?" They all mumbled responses ranging from 'yes' or 'no' to 'what the…'. Katie ignored them and turned to the small kettle she kept in her quarters. As she began preparing the tea she took a deep breathe and told them the whole story- from the beginning.


	15. Expectations and Confrontations

"So now Lucas hates me, which is why he was such a jerk earlier. He thinks I conned him or something," said Katie finishing up her story. She took a sip of her tea, grimacing that it had gone cold. She sighed and leaned back into her chair closing her eyes. She was tired. It had been a long day and she'd just dumped a bunch of emotions on the men in her room and now she just wanted to sleep.

"Well that explains why he punched me."

Everyone turned to look at Tony, who had been surprisingly quiet the whole time. Miguel and Tim had asked questions, and so had Ben when Katie got to a part he didn't know about.

Katie opened her eyes and looked at Tony strangely. "What does that have to do with him punching you?"

"Ah well you see I was tryin' to get him to tell me how he knew you and I sort of told him he was uptight and needed to get laid," Tony responded not really meeting her eye. He horridly added, "I had no idea you know, about you two. I wouldn't have said anything if I did, honest."

Katie smiled at Tony reassuringly. "I believe you Tony. I know you all care about Lucas and wouldn't hurt him on purpose."

"Would you?" asked Tim. "Hurt him on purpose?"

Katie opened her mouth to answer but Ben beat her to it. He jumped to his feet.

"Of course she wouldn't!" he bellowed. "Katie wouldn't hurt a fly!"

Tim cowered in his chair. He'd never seen Ben angry before. "That's not what I meant," Tim tried to explain.

"Dad calm down!" Katie yelled. "I've had ENOUGH of this. Stop biting everyone's head off the minute they don't think I'm perfect. News flash, I'm human, I make mistakes, and I'm not always right!"

Ben sat back down sheepishly muttering an apology.

"Look," she said to them, "I'm tired, I really need some sleep so if we can continue this another time?" She gestured towards the door.

"Sure, no problem," said Miguel, heading towards the door. "We just wanted to know what happened. No one likes this side of Lucas, and none of us wanted to say the wrong thing and end up like Tony."

"You mean with a black eye?" she asked.

"No I think they mean stuck with a terrible roommate who acts like a jerk every second of everyday," interjected Tony angrily.

Katie frowned. "You still haven't made up?"

"If by made up you mean he hasn't punched me, then yea. He's civil on the bridge, Ford would have his head if he wasn't but we're not friends anymore. Today's the first time I've been around him since he punched me, and it was only because Tim and Miguel cornered him in the mess hall and dragged me along. He avoids me like the plague."

Katie's frowned deepened. "I'm sorry Tony; I know that you guys are close. I feel awful that I've caused all this."

"You didn't cause anything." The voice was Dagwood's. Katie looked at him surprised.

"But I'm the one-"

"Lucas punched Tony. Lucas is hurt, but hurting other people doesn't make it better. It's not your fault." Dagwood said the last line slowly, punctuating every word.

Katie smiled. "I'll see you guys later ok?" The men filed slowly out of her quarters leaving Ben standing at the door.

"You sure you'll be ok?"

"Fine. Now go, I'm tired," she smiled at him.

Ben smiled back. "Get some rest, I'll see you later."

Katie got changed and climbed into bed. After an hour of tossing and turning she turned the lights back on and got redressed. _I can't just leave things like this. _She knew there was only one person on the boat who could fix everything. She left her quarters and headed to another part of the ship. The walk was much too quick and now she stood in front of a door she really didn't want to knock on. But she did anyway.

_Knock Knock_

One of the room's occupants opened the door. Shock and surprised rolled over his face before he grinned.

"Couldn't stay away from me could you?"

"Is he here?" she asked quietly.

"Yea, he's working on something for Hudson."

"Any chance you can give us a few minutes alone?"

"Sure, I'll just go for a swim or somethin'."

"Thanks."

Grabbing his towel, he stepped to let Katie inside and left, closing the door behind him.

They stood there for a few minutes in silence before Katie took a deep breath and spoke.

"Lucas, I think we need to talk."

"Is he here?"

Lucas heard her voice but he couldn't believe it. _How dare she come down here! What the hell does she want?_ Lucas thought angrily. Truthfully though Lucas wasn't as angry as he wanted to be. What he'd said in the mess hall was unforgivable and he knew it. He just lost all control when it came to Katie. He'd really liked her. That night in her apartment he had allowed himself to fantasize about a future with her. She had seemed so perfect. It was like Sandra all over again only worse. Because even though she'd lied, he knew the feelings had been genuine. He could tell by the hurt look he'd seen in the mess hall when he'd insulted her. Sandra had been unrelenting in her belief that she was right. Katie had apologized repeatedly and he knew she was sorry and that he needed to forgive here. He just didn't want to.

He tuned back into the conversation as Tony said something about going swimming. He tried to focus on his work as he heard the door shut. He could sense she was still there, but he didn't want to turn around to check.

Finally a sound broke the silence.

"Lucas, I think we need to talk."

"What's there to talk about?" anger rose to the surface again as he stood and turned to face her. "I don't have anything to say to you, so if you'll excuse me I have work to do." He stomped over to the door and wretched it open motioning for her to leave. Katie took a few steps and was halfway out the door, with Lucas pushing it shut behind her when she decided enough was enough. She pushed back against the door forcing it open and catching Lucas off guard. He stumbled backwards off the step and fell into the desk.

"No, you know what? There is no excuse for you." Katie slammed the door to Lucas and Tony's quarters shut.

Lucas look stunned for a moment before his eyes went dark.

"Me? There's no excuse for me? You're the liar!" Lucas screeched at her.

"GET OVER IT ALREADY!" Katie yelled back. "You're behaving like a child Lucas," Katie returned her voice to a normal volume. "You may hate me but you can't act like you've been acting. For G-d's sake Lucas today you openly insulted a superior office –"

Lucas opened his mouth to rebuke that comment but Katie continued.

"I _am_ your superior whether you like it or not Lucas," she rebuked. "And your behaviour is inappropriate. Beyond that it's just down right mean!"

Katie's voice went quiet.

"I know I hurt you Lucas. But I didn't mean to…"

At this point all her courage and resolve gave out and she just started sobbing. She cried harder than she had in months. Harder than the day in the kitchen with Ben, harder than that morning when he'd insulted her. She done the most foolish thing and it was finally catching up to her.

The night she'd met Lucas, the night they'd made love she'd given him more than her body. She had given Lucas Wolenczak her heart and soul- lock, stock and barrel. And now she was handing him her dignity on a silver platter as she broke down beyond the point of repair.


	16. I'm Sorry

Lucas' eyes softened as Katie's voice went quiet. He was just about to apologize, to try and fix this when the first sob escaped her lips. His mouth closed as he watched the emotions play across her face. He saw the love, the pain, the humiliation roll across her face as she broke down in front of him. It pained Lucas to know he had caused this. He watched the beautiful, smart, talented woman he'd almost fell in love with break and in that moment every ounce of anger Lucas was carrying flew out the window.

"Shhhh, shhh. It's ok. I'm sorry," Lucas crossed the room and took the sobbing woman in his arms. He held her tight and whispered words of comfort to her over and over again.

"It's alright, I'm sorry." Katie's cries quieted slightly but didn't stop. It was like a damn had been broken and she couldn't block it back up again.

"I'm sorry for what I said. I'm sorry for fighting with you. Please don't cry. I can't… I can't bear to see you cry!" Lucas' own eyes were starting to fill with tears now. He touched Katie's chin, tilted her face up so her eyes met his own. "Please forgive me," he whispered.

The tears in Katie's eyes stopped as she pressed her forehead against his and whispered one word:

"Okay."

They stood there in silence for a few moments holding each other. Lucas could smell her lavender shampoo mixed with the smell of the generic UEO soap and a touch of the cleansers used to sanitize the lab. He decided it was the most wonderful combination of smells on the planet. He began playing with the hair at the nape of her neck. Lucas pulled on the hair ever so slightly, forcing Katie's head back up to face his own. He eyed her mouth. He remembered how soft it was and how wonderful it tasted. Still stroking her hair, Lucas lifted his other hand to her chin and angled it ever so slightly to the left, not too much, just enough so he could lean in and –

"Lucas," Katie said softly as she stepped away from him.

Lucas was confused. He'd thought they'd just made up. Didn't couples kiss when they made up?

Katie saw the confusion and hurt on Lucas' face. "Lucas…" she repeated even softer. "We can't do this."

"What? Why?" Lucas stepped towards her and pulled her back into her arms. "I told you I was sorry, I thought you forgave me." He brushed her hair off of her forever. G-d did he love that hair. "I know you care about me," he pressed his hands into her lower back, forcing their bodies closer. "I know you want to kiss me," Lucas whispered softly as he once again tilted her mouth up to meet his.

Katie considered it for a moment. She wanted so much to kiss Lucas, to be with him. Yes she loved him, but the situation was different than from when she fell for him. They couldn't be involved like this.

"Lucas," she said sternly, pushing him away again. "I do forgive you, and I do…" Katie paused, "…_care_ about you."

"So what's the problem?" Lucas laughed as he moved towards her again.

"The problem is Lucas that I'm still your superior officer."

Lucas stopped and scowled at her. "Thanks for reminding me."

"Lucas please!" Katie caught his arm. "Please don't be angry. I just want what's best for both of us. After everything that's happened I don't think we should jump into anything. This morning you hated me! It's just not a good idea, especially since we have to work and live on this boat together. What if we break up? "

"We won't," he stated matter-of-factly.

"All right. What about my being your superior? Lucas we could get in big trouble if we get caught, and thanks to your little hissy fit everyone is going to be watching us closely. There's no way we could keep it hidden!" Katie looked like she was near tears, she was afraid that Lucas would hate her again. Her eyes pleaded with him to understand.

Lucas sighed. She was right. His behaviour had ruined their chance. Lucas pulled her close and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"All right, you win. But can we still be friends?" Lucas' eyes met hers as he pleaded hopefully.

"Yes," Katie smiled. "Of course."

Lucas grinned. The grin turned from happy to wicked as Lucas had a stroke of genius.

"You know, no one would begrudge us a good bye kiss."

Katie fought against her inner voice. She knew what would happen if she kissed Lucas. She knew she'd never want to stop. She decided she didn't care.

Smiling, Katie reached up and pressed her lips to his. It was a sweet gentle kiss. Lucas made to deepen it, but Katie moved away too fast.

"I'll see you around Lucas," she said hurriedly as she made a beeline for the door.

Lucas stared at the closed door for a full minute before he composed himself and went back to his work. As he tried to focus on the programming for Hudson he couldn't help but think about Katie. Sighing he eventually gave up on the program and got into bed.

As he drifted to sleep he remembered the taste of her lips, and the smell of her hair. He could practically feel her touch. Lucas feel asleep imagining a life full of lavender shampoo, with a smile on his face.

Author's Note: Sorry for leaving you in suspense! Wasn't my plan, it's just what happened. I really need to get the internet at home and stop using the library's lol … puts so many time limits on writing! Also, THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS! I _was_ responding to them all, but now I always read them through my email on my phone and then I can't respond and I forget to do it when I get onto a real computer… But I love you all and thank you


	17. The Bridge

Author's note: Wow this had a lot of typos that I didn't seen the billion times I read it…hopefully it's better now

The next day Katie decided to test out her new friendship with Lucas. As she made her way to the bridge she wondered if she was doing the right thing or not.

_Hudson will kill me if I start something on the bridge_, she thought. She reached the clam doors and pushed the button to open them. _Here goes nothing._

Katie spied Lucas at his station immediately. His back was to her and he was heavily involved in something on the screen. It took everyone a moment but eventually they all realised she was there. Commander Ford made his was over to her.

"Can I help you with something Dr. Krieg?" he asked. Ford didn't want another incident between her and Lucas. He'd heard about what happened in the mess hall. He'd talked to the Captain about it and had planned on sitting Lucas down for a talk after their shift was over.

"No, actually Commander, I am quite capable of handling things myself," Katie said confidently as she walked over to Lucas. "Ensign Wolenczak."

Lucas looked up at the sound of her name. His eyes slowly registered who was talking to him and he had to fight back a grin.

"Lieutenant," he replied. His voice was as neutral as he could make it. He'd decided that if he was to ever have a chance with Katie he had to make sure no one doubted their working relationship – or suspected their personal one.

Everyone's attention was on the two scientists now. They all knew about the insults Lucas had thrown at the doctor and they were waiting for her to yell at him. None of them would have had the courage to do it on the bridge, but that didn't mean they didn't want to watch.

Silently they watched as she handed Lucas a folder.

"Ensign, will you please reprogram these systems with the access codes included. I'm having difficulty accessing certain systems in the science labs, "Katie asked, her voice slightly rushed. She waited to see what Lucas' response would be.

"Sure." Lucas flipped the file open and scanned the contents. "It shouldn't take too long. I'll have it done within the hour."

"Thank you," Katie said fighting a smile. Actually she was fighting more than a smile. She was fighting a smile, a whoop, a yell, a hug, and most importantly a kiss. Turning, she walked off of the bridge leaving the crew with their mouths hanging open as they watched Lucas return to his work, only now with the file folder propped up against the screen and open.


	18. The Mission

"Commander Ford, Doctor Krieg, and Ensign Wolenczak, please report to the ward room. Commander Ford, Doctor Krieg and Ensign Wolenczak, to the ward room."

Lucas groaned as the Tim's voice pulled him from his sleep. Actually the groan was more at the loss of a good dream than anything else, but duty calls. Lucas struggled to shake the sleep from his brain and the image of Katie from his head as he got dressed and headed to the ward room. He would have preferred to head to the showers but there wasn't time.

_I really have to stop dreaming about her like that. It's been three months and she still hasn't changed her mind about not dating. It might be more tolerable if I didn't have to see her all the time._

Ever since he and Katie had made peace, he couldn't stop thinking about her. The rage he'd been feeling her first month on board had suddenly converted itself into a few other choice emotions. Lucas hadn't stopped dreaming about her since that first night and seeing her everyday didn't help. They'd begun to work together on a variety of projects, the most important being the vocorder. Katie's passion lay with interspecies communication and she was deadset on someday adapting the vocorder for other species besides dolphins. But first the dolphin programming would have to be completed and perfected. Even with all the advancements that Malcolm had made in the language, there were still gaps in the vocabulary. Plus there was still the task of teaching the words to Darwin. The vocorder may recognize a lot more words (Katie had given him a copy of Malcolm's program to merge with the one on Seaquest) but that didn't give Darwin immediate knowledge of them.

"Doctor Krieg and Ensign Wolenczak, to the ward room immediately." Tim's voice rang out over the intercom, spurring Lucas to begin to jog. Turning the corner to the corridor with the ward room, he slammed into another body.

"Whoa!" he said as he tried to right them both. As he steadied them he recognized the woman in his arms. "Hey," he whispered, pulling her tighter to his chest.

"Hey," said Katie. "Umm I'm ok now," she said blushing and stepping out of his arms.

"Of course." Embarrassed, Lucas opened the door to the ward room.

"Ensign, Doctor, nice of you to join us," the captain greeted them. "Have a seat."

Katie and Lucas took seats on opposite sides of the table, Katie sitting next to Commander Ford, and Lucas taking the seat empty seat across from them. The Captain sat down as well and began briefing Katie and Lucas on their mission.

Lucas climbed into the cockpit of the launch and started up the engines. Katie had run to her lab to "end a few experiments" and would be joining him shortly.

After Seaquest had disappeared, Malcolm had taken control of the vocorder – its patens, its research. He had convinced the Laurence to sign it all over to him – in continuation of Lucas' work, as a way to honour his memory. The vocorder had been made available to several research facilities including the International Centre for Marine Biology Lucas and Katie were headed to.

It seemed there was a glitch in the system that the scientists couldn't work out. Malcolm was already there trying to fix it but he had failed. Everyone had tried to fix it – except for Katie and Lucas, the two greatest experts on the machine. Unaware of any incidents between them, Malcolm had requested both Lucas and Katie to come and take a look at it. Warily the captain had agreed, but had explained to them, in no uncertain terms, that any misconduct on this mission by either party would result in immediate punishment. He knew that there was peace between them now, but he was afraid that with the close quarters of the launch they might slip back into their initial feud.

So now they were headed out to meet Malcolm. Lucas could barely contain his excitement. The captain had practically handed him shore leave – it was true he could only go one place, but any time off the boat was a blessing itself, plus, he would get to see how other scientists were using the vocorder. He and Katie were also supposed to stop and pick up supplies on their way back. He wondered if he could convince her to take a few extra hours for dinner. The captain would never know, and it would work well into his plan to convince her that they could in fact date and no one would know.

"I think that's everything," said Katie climbing into the seat next to him.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road," replied Lucas, snapping out of his reverie. "Wolenczak to Seaquest, MR3 launch ready to depart."

As Lucas communicated to Seaquest and readied the launch to depart, Katie slipped into her own reverie. She was excited to see Malcolm. She wondered if he had brought Caesar with her. She frowned at the thought. She loved Caesar – like a brother. A concept that seemed to be foreign to the young man as he insisted on hitting on her. The last time she'd seen him things hadn't ended well. He'd tried to kiss her and she'd responded with a slap. Katie wondered if Caesar would try anything again, and if he did she wondered how Lucas would react. He hadn't mentioned the idea of a relationship to her again, but Katie could tell he was thinking it. It was in the little things he did – bringing her coffee or lunch in the lab when she forgot, immediately doing updates to software she requested – when she knew others had put in requests first. She wondered if he would stop those things around Malcolm and she frowned further, realising she didn't want him to stop.

"Everything ok?" Lucas' voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She turned to him and seeing the worried look on his face, had to smile.

"Everything's fine," she replied.

"Good." Lucas grinned as he settled back into his seat and steered the launch away from the ship.

Katie smiled back and decided not to worry about anything. Maybe she'd take a nap since the trip would be at least an hour long. Leaning back into the chair, Katie closed her eyes and fell asleep.


	19. Nightmares

Lucas couldn't believe it. Five minutes into their journey and she'd fallen asleep. ASLEEP! He was excited to have some time alone with her, to talk to her about "them" and she fell asleep on him! Lucas was angry, but only for a moment. He was more hurt than anything, but the more he thought about it the more he realised it had nothing to do with him. It wasn't like she'd fallen asleep mid-conversation. He'd been so busy talking to Seaquest and manoeuvring the launch away from the ship that he hadn't started a conversation with her beyond asking her if she was ok. He also knew that Katie didn't get nearly enough sleep – but then neither did he which is why he never reprimanded her for it like Ben did.

Lucas sighed. It was nice to be away from Ben. He liked the guy well enough – he'd been like an older brother to Lucas during the first tour but not anymore. Now Ben had a severe hate on for Lucas. The two months he'd been there Lucas couldn't get any supplies. Every order he placed was somehow lost or cancelled – even when he placed them directly without Ben. He thought it was bad luck until he'd been complaining to Katie about it. She'd gone quiet and excused herself. An hour later she'd returned to the lab apologizing for her father's behaviour and promising the boycott would stop. It did, but Lucas still didn't feel comfortable around Ben.

Katie stirred beside him. He looked over at her sleeping form.

_She's so beautiful. She looks almost angelic when she's sleeping. _Lucas wanted nothing more than to put the launch on auto pilot and take Katie in his arms. He wanted to run his fingers through her hair and hold her close. He wanted to kiss her lips and whisper in her ear all the things he was feeling. Lucas was not the feeling type – he had feelings, he just didn't share them. But Katie made him want to open up. He'd never felt so comfortable with anyone in his life.

Katie stirred again. This time Lucas noticed a slightly distressed look on her face. Frowning Lucas check the course they were on and programmed in the auto pilot. He watched for a few moments as Katie's face began to look more and more distressed. She started to thrash slightly and a few moans escaped her lips.

Lucas took a deep breathe and moved towards her seat. She may hate him in a moment, but Lucas couldn't stand to watch her any longer.

"Katie," he whispered, shaking her gently. "Wake up." He shook her again.

Katie slowly opened her eyes and bolted upright when she realised someone was standing over her.

"Ahhhh!" she yelped.

"Whoa, calm down. Relax, it's just me," Lucas said soothingly. "It's just me." Lucas took a step forward and began rubbing Katie's back.

"I'm sorry, you just startled me."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have woken you. You just seemed a little distressed," Lucas said slowly. He didn't want to spook her again. She seemed really agitated.

"It's not you," she reassured him. "I just… I don't like… launches. I have a problem with launches. I shouldn't have gone to sleep; I don't know what I was thinking." _I was thinking that I hadn't had a nightmare in a few years and it would be safe. Guess again._

"You seemed like you were having a nightmare," Lucas prodded.

Katie paused before answering. Lucas was her friend. She was sure he would understand. She could also trust him not to tell anyone.

"Yeah, I was," she admitted.

"Do you want to tell me what it about?"

Katie opened her mouth to respond, but the piloting console began to go off. Lucas returned to his seat and began reading the messages on the screen. He frowned.

"What is it?" Katie asked worriedly.

"Hmmm?" Lucas looked up at her. Noticing the worried look on her face he forced a smile. "Nothing, just a problem with the autopilot. I'll have to do it all manually. Sorry about that." Lucas returned his focus to the console. It wasn't exactly a lie. There was a problem in the auto pilot. But the problem was caused by a malfunction in the launch's computer. It was fixable, but Lucas needed time, and all the systems (including life support) would have to be turned off. It probably wouldn't be a problem; he just had to focus on constantly rerouting information. He sighed. He should tell Katie. He wouldn't be able to talk and run the launch at the same time.

"Actually it is something. There's a problem with the launch's programming. It's safe," he added hurriedly, noticing the look on her face, "it just needs the information to be constantly rerouted. Manually. I can do it; I just can't do it and talk to you at the same time."

"Oh, that's ok. I have some paperwork to do anyway." With that Katie pulled out a portable computer from her bag and began to work on some grant requests for Seaquest's science research.

Sighing Lucas returned his attention to the computer. The perfect opportunity to bond with Katie and it was ruined. He'd just have to think of something later.

A few hours later Katie and Lucas docked at the International Centre for Marine Biology. Gathering their things they exited the launch and entered the centre through the airlock. Katie saw Malcolm first and rushed over to him.

"Malcolm!" she yelled, as he caught her in a big hug.

"Katie my girl how are you?"

"I'm fine." Lucas had reached them now. Grinning she grabbed Lucas and pulled him closer. "Malcolm you remember _Ensign Wolenczak_, right?"

"Lucas, it's good to see you!" Malcolm pulled Lucas into a hug.

"It's great to see you too Malcolm."

"Geez kid, you look almost the same as the day I met you. What happened?"

Lucas was about to respond when a voice from the past cut him off.

"I'll tell you what happened; he went and threw his life away joining the navy!"


	20. Science Reunion

Lucas turned around slowly. He wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that, and experience taught him that when he didn't know how to respond to her he just shouldn't respond.

"Well young man? What have you got to say for yourself?"

"It's good to see you Kristin," he said softly. "I missed you."

Dr. Westphalen's face softened slightly before she began her lecture again.

"Don't you try to soften me up Lucas," she said pointing at him and shaking her hand as she moved in closer. "You are more trouble than you can believe."

Katie stifled a giggle.

"I suppose you think this is funny do you?" asked Kristin crossing her arms.

Katie stopped smiling as she realized she had turned the focus of Kristin's anger onto herself. "No, I ah, I just had a bit of a cough there," Katie tried to cover her tracks by coughing but Kristin knew better.

"You're just as bad as he is! Joining the navy! How could you? How could you be so _stupid_?" Kristin was getting really rile dup at this point.

"Now Kristin," interjected Malcolm, "the girl finished her schooling and she deserves to be stupid. Besides," he added, "she's doing great research on Seaquest that she wouldn't get to do anywhere else."

Kristin paused as Malcolm's words sunk in. It was true, Katie had finished school – two PhD's at any age was impressive, even one was impressive, but to have two at her age – that was a feat. Katie had used the full potential of her genius. Unlike some people.

"That may very well be, but what about him," Kristin said, turning back towards Lucas.

"Ah mom, cut it out. If you yell at them they'll leave and then this place will go back to being the boringest spot on the planet."

They all turned to face the young man standing in front of them. Lucas guessed he was about Katie's age (give or take a few years). He was darker, and he looked familiar. Lucas was trying to place his face when Katie gave him the answer.

"Caesar, how are you?" Katie said quietly.

"I'm great Katie, how are you?" Caesar rushed over to hug Katie. Lucas noticed that while she hugged him back, she didn't initiate it, nor did she put more than the slightest effort into it.

"Great. I love it on Seaquest." Katie shifted uncomfortably for a few moments before remembering Lucas. "Caesar, this is Ensign Wolenczak, he came with me to fix the vocorder system."

"Lucas! How are you man?" Caser slapped Lucas on the back and shook his hand.

"Great! Feeling a bit old now that I've seen you. I seem to recall you being a lot younger," Lucas laughed and looked up at the man who towered a good two inches over him, "and a lot shorter."

Both men laughed before Caser responded. "Well you don't look old, you don't even look legal!"

"Ah year, chryo statis will do that to you," Lucas explained. Lucas hated telling that lie but it was necessary. Kristin was eyeing him with suspicion so he hurriedly changed the subject. "We should probably get started on the vocorder."

"I agreed," Katie added hurriedly. Caser was starting to stand a little too close and was eyeing her in a way she'd rather he didn't.

"Sure, right this way," Malcolm said gesturing for them to follow him.

Lucas and Katie picked up their gear and followed Malcolm down the hall leaving Kristin and Caser to follow them with a look of suspicion and a calculating look respectively.


	21. Ranks and Rewards

Author's Note: So there have been a lot of questions about things and I've trying to answer for them now. I apologize for the delay…oiy the flu mixed with exams sucks. Also, I realize I'm at chapter 20 and not much has happened… I comfort myself with the knowledge that these are short chapters and I really did mean for a long story. Don't worry; the next few chapters will be ridiculously exciting and monumentous.

Lucas and Katie spent the afternoon trying to fix the vocorder, while Kristin, Caesar and Malcolm tried to help. Meaning, Malcolm tried to help while Caesar watched and Kristin lectured Lucas on his enlistment.

"…really I just don't understand it Lucas," said Kristin for the umpteenth time.

Lucas was ready to lose it. He loved Kristin as a mother, but she was pushing all his buttons. He was just about to snap when Katie spoke up.

"You know, I think we're done for today," she said. "We're not getting anywhere, and while I don't know about Ensign Wolenczak, I for one am tired. Ensign, would you object to breaking for the day?" she asked turning to Lucas.

Lucas released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Sounds like a plan," he answered nonchalantly.

"Good. Malcolm can you show us to our rooms?"

"Of course." Malcolm turned to lead them out of the room with Lucas two steps behind him. Katie noticed Kristin was about to follow and decided to put a stop to the rant. "Kristin can I talk to you?"

Both Malcolm and Lucas stopped at the request.

"Should we wait for you?" asked Malcolm.

Katie smiled. "No, I'm sure Kristin can show me my room when we're done." With that Lucas and Malcolm left. Katie turned to the other person in the room. "Caesar, do you mind?" she said kindly. "I'll see you at dinner?"

"Yea, sure," he grumbled and left.

Katie began organizing some of the equipment that was staying in the lab. It didn't really need organizing she just needed something to do.

"Kristin, you need to back off of Lucas," she said softly.

"I beg your pardon," replied Kristin angrily. "I have every right to-"

"No you don't," interrupted Katie. "Kristin I know what Lucas means to you. He and Caesar are like the sons you never had, but" Katie paused, "if you keep this up you will lose him forever. I know that last ten years were hard for you…

"You have no idea how hard there were! He just disappeared, I thought he was dead!" yelled Kristin.

"I know what it's like to see someone you love go out into that ocean and never come back," Katie whispered softly.

Kristin paused. She knew it was wrong to yell at Katie. She loved the girl like family and it wasn't her fault Lucas had been missing. She was just so… so angry.

"Yes, well I suppose you do," replied Kristin curtly, but no too unkindly.

Katie wrapped Kristin in a hug. "He'll be fine," she whispered reassuringly into Kristin's ear.

"I hope your right," the older whispered back.

Separating Kristin clapped her younger colleague on the back. "Now enough about Lucas tell me about you. How's Seaquest?"

The two women headed towards Katie's room while discussing Katie's new posting.

"It's wonderful really, the labs are amazing Kristin! I mean I know the ones on the first boat were wonderful, but compared to this, I don't think they quite measure up. If I could just get along with the crew…" Katie paused. Kristin had stopped a few moments before to indicate this was her room but Katie had been reluctant to enter. She really needed to talk to someone about this, and there wasn't anyone on Seaquest who she thought could really understand.

"Kristin was it hard for you being on Seaquest?" she finally asked.

"A bit. The military personnel and the science personnel didn't exactly get along in the beginning. But you shouldn't have any trouble with that, you're military now."

"But that is the trouble…I'm a lieutenant and I've only been enlisted for a few months… I understand that the secretary general thought it was better if I had a higher rank, but all its doing is causing crewmates to hold a grudge. They think it's because Katie is my mother…" Katie trailed off again. "But it's really just this stupid new policy. Anyone, ANYONE, who heads a science team, is required to have a PhD and hold at least a lieutenant's rank. I wish they'd never made it." Katie slumped against her door.

"Katie, you deserve this job," Kristin tried to comfort her. "I know it's hard, but you'll manage."

"Thanks Kristin," Katie managed with a smile.

"You get some rest dear; I'll see you for dinner in an hour?"

"I'll see you then."

As Kristin walked away, Katie slumped further against the door. "Well at least she thinks I can do it," she said to the empty corridor.

"She's not alone," a voice answered back.

Katie stood up straight and looked at the person the voice belonged to. "How long have you been listening?"

"Long enough," he said, taking a step towards her. "You really do deserve it," he said quietly.

"Right, because I did so much to get promoted," she argued.

"Well under normal circumstances I'd say the rank was unearned, but you said it yourself, it's a requirement under the new policy. And there's no one better suited for the position of Chief Science Officer on Seaquest than you.

"Not even you?" she challenged softly.

Lucas laughed. "If you had asked me a few months ago I would have argued that. But after I got over my anger," they both smiled at that, "and actually read some of your work I realized your brilliant. Lieutenant, you got two PhD's by the age of 18, that's amazing. Even one would have been brilliant."

"You had an MA at 15; you could have completed a PhD too."

"Maybe someday I will," he chuckled. "Of course we don't all have the private tutors you do…" they both laughed.

It was true. There was no way Katie could have accomplished all she had if it hadn't been for who her parents were- and who they knew. She'd taking the high school equivalency test immediately after Katie Hitchcock had adopted her, and had flown through her BA. When you have nothing to do but read and study, school comes fairly easy. Then her mother had allowed her to work with Kristin and Malcolm, she had made sure that every project Katie had wanted to work on that she got it. It wasn't all to her mother's credit though – she still earned the spots that she had, Katie just opened up doors and found opportunities that she otherwise would not have found. Really the second PhD was because of Katie's link to Kristin and to Malcolm. Malcolm never really took on students, but he did it as a favour to the old crew of Seaquest.

"Oh sure, give them all the credit," she joked. Katie was laughing still when she realised how close Lucas had gotten.

"I think," he whispered, "you're the one who should get the credit." Moving closer, he whispered in her ear, "I think actually that you should be rewarded for it." With that Lucas brushed his lips against her cheek. "Yes," he said thoughtfully, trailing kisses down the side of her face, "a reward is definitely in order." By this time he had reached her mouth.

Katie was speechless. She knew she should pull away, but there was absolutely no part of her that wanted to.

Then Lucas kissed her. It started soft but turned strong and passionate. His arms wrapped around her waist and she wrapped her arms around his neck. They stayed like that for a moment before Lucas broke away.

"I'll see you at dinner ok?" he whispered in her ear before he disappeared into the room across the hall.

Katie was speechless. _What the… _before Katie could finish that thought, Malcolm came barrelling around the corner.

"Katie! Just the person I was looking for!"

As Katie listened to Malcolm talk about the problems with the vocorder she wondered what had just happened.

Author's note 2: The schooling thing… I know PhD's take a while…BUT I don't know about the state but in Canada an undergraduate degree can be done in three years or four years depending on the level. I'm not even a genius, and I did manage to knock a whole year off of my undergrad. Also, Katie is like Lucas, a genius. I also have several friends who have done PhD's… while not common it is possible to do one in two or three years, or less. Also, MA's (in Canada and a few other places) can be done in one year sometimes. So while not the norm, I think Katie's schooling is explainable in genius circles lol. Also, do you not watch criminal minds? Spencer Reid is 24 with three PhD's and three BA's…. so :P


	22. Awkward Dinner

Dinner was an awkward affair. At least for Katie. Lucas and Kristin seemed to have made peace as Kristin avoided all lectures on his life choice and Lucas avoided as many references to the military as was possible. They'd started talking dolphins with Malcolm and the work he'd done with the vocorder over the last decade. It was a conversation that Katie would have enjoyed greatly- if she hadn't been seated at opposite end of the table. _Serves me right for showing up late for dinner, _she thought. She'd been late to dinner, which was attended by the station's director and several scientists and she found herself isolated at the end of the table with Caesar. Worse, was every time she tried to join the conversation, Caesar would sidetrack her with his own. It was starting to drive her mad.

Finally dessert was done and Katie hoped that someone would leave and she could grab a new seat. But the scientists were all focussed on Lucas in-depth explanation of the vocorder's functions. _Like half of them even understand it_, she thought maliciously. Katie frowned. She very rarely insulted people, even in her mind. Maybe she was tired. _Maybe you're jealous_ a voice inside her head said. Her frown deepened. Was she jealous? It was true that all the attention was focussed on Lucas, but it was his invention._ Even if she'd made more developments with it in the last ten years than he had._ No that wasn't right she thought, Lucas was missing for ten years. He couldn't work on it. Katie sighed. She was definitely tired. Looking at the clock she realised it had been twelve hours since her nap on the launch. Pushing her chair back she got up and left the table. She didn't bother to excuse herself since she didn't think anyone would notice.

"Where are you going Katie?" a voice called out.

Katie sighed. Trust Caesar to botch up her silent getaway. Silently cursing him she plastered a smile on her face and turned back to the table. All attention was on her now.

"Sorry, it's late, I'm tired," she continued to force the smile. "I'll see you all in the morning."

"I'll walk you," said Caesar hurriedly standing. He'd stood too hurriedly and knocked several things over with his chair.

"I think you had best clean that up first," said Katie. "Good night."

As Katie left she could hear Kristin lecturing Caesar for his clumsiness.

As soon as Katie was back in her room she changed into her pyjamas and got into bed. She tried to go to sleep but it evaded her. He brain just wouldn't shut down. _Was I really jealous of Lucas?_ She asked herself. It was true she felt left out for the evening but was she really jealous? Maybe. She thought about it some more and finally laughed when she realised what she'd been upset at.She wasn't jealous of Lucas – she was jealous that his attention was elsewhere. After their run-in outside of her room she'd expected to be the centre of his attention during dinner but he hadn't so much as looked at her.

She frowned. What kind of game was he playing? Before she could dwell on it any further there was a knock at the door. Sighing she got up and went to the door and opened it. She was shocked when she saw who was there.

"Lucas?"

"Hey, can I come in?"

"Umm…" Katie couldn't think of a good excuse without being rude. She decided to lay the tired card. "I'm really tired Lucas, can it wait?"

"I won't stay long," he promised.

Against her better judgement Katie opened the door wider and Lucas walked inside, straight past her. Shutting the door, Katie turned to ask Lucas what he wanted only to find his hands once again around her waist and his lips on hers.

"I missed you," he whispered.

To say Katie was angry would have been an understatement. She pushed him away so hard that he almost fell.

"What-" he started to ask.

"Don't you what me, Lucas Wolenczak," she snapped. "Just what do you think you're playing at here?"

"Nothing, what's wrong with you?" Lucas was confused to say the least.

"First you push me away in the hallway, then you ignore me during dinner, and now you show up in my room and kiss me, like…" she fumbled on her words, "like…"

"Like what?"

"Like THAT!" she exclaimed.

Lucas laughed. Taking her hand he pulled her to him. She fought against him but he held her fast.

"Just listen will you?" he said looking in her eyes. "I heard someone coming down the hall and so I moved away. I didn't want us getting caught in a _compromising_ position."

"Oh." Katie felt silly. She hadn't heard Malcolm so it didn't occur to her that Lucas had. "But what about dinner?"

"I didn't know there would be so many scientists. I'm sorry I ignored you but I didn't want to be rude. And I was trying to hide this."

"This?"

"Yes _this_," he gestured to the two of them. "I know you don't want anything more than friendship, but there's obviously something. And until we know what it is I thought it would be better if we kept it to ourselves." He dropped her hand and moved towards the bed. Sitting down he leaned against the wall relaxing as he continued, "and I really didn't want to give Kristin another reason to yell at me."

They both laughed. Kristin was, in a nice word, _intense_.

Katie sat down next to him on the bed. "Yea, Kristin would probably throw me out an airlock for daring to touch her precious Lucas," she teased.

"Humph," he scoffed, "more like she'd kill me for touching her star pupil." They both laughed again.

"You know I'm a bit jealous of you," Lucas said looking at her. They were both leaning against the wall now, their heads turned towards each other, their eyes locked.

"Oh?" Katie stopped herself from laughing at the irony. She wondered what he was jealous of. "Why is that?"

"You and Kristin, Kristin and Malcolm, Kristin, Malcolm and Caesar. You've all formed this family unit. I'm jealous."

"You shouldn't be. Kristin considers you one of her own."

Lucas smiled. "Yea I guess she does doesn't she?" He paused. "I never thought she'd marry Malcolm though."

Katie started laughing hysterically. Lucas looked at her bewildered.

"What? What did I say?" he asked.

"You think Kristin and Malcolm are married."

"Aren't they? I mean she's here with Malcolm, and Caesar called her mom. I know that Malcolm adopted him after his father…" Lucas stopped himself. Katie didn't need to hear about the death of Milo Teslov.

Katie didn't notice his slip though and laughed. "That's what he calls Kristin when she'd being overbearing. And yes she's here with him but not _with _him if you know what I mean."

Lucas did know what she meant, but he was still confused.

Katie saw the confusion on his face and explained further. "I think they've dated a bit over the years, but they aren't married. I asked Malcolm about it one time and he just said she was in love with someone who died and never got over it. So they're just friends," she said matter-of-factly.

"Oh," was all Lucas said. Oh indeed. He knew the man Malcolm had been talking about._ Captain Bridger, _he thought. He wondered if they had reconnected since their reappearance from Hyperion. His thoughts we redirected as he caught a whiff of a too-familiar scent. Lavender. Smiling he realised exactly what kind of position they were in. If he leaned a certain way and was quick, she'd never escape.

"Enough talk about Kristin's love life," he said "it's almost as bad as talking about your parent's sex life."

"Alright what do you want to talk about?" Katie asked.

Lucas didn't reply with words. Instead he captured her mouth with his and showed her exactly what he was thinking.

Author's note: I promise excitement soon. I know what's going to happen… I think… I had a lot of excitement planned but then lots of boringness was necessary lol And see Darkin, I fixeded it lol… and yes I spelt fixed wrong ON PURPOSE!


	23. Finally Saying No

"Now I want you two to call me as soon as you get back _SeaQuest_."

"Sure thing,_ mom._"

The two teenagers burst into fits of laughter at the look of indignation on Kristin's face.

"Relax doc, we'll be fine," Lucas reassured her. "I promise Katie will call you when we get back."

"You two mister, I want to see both your faces on the screen," Kristin said reproachfully, but they could see the smile creeping onto her face.

It hadn't taken Lucas and Katie long to fix the problem with the vocorder. They had to rebuild a few components and rewrite some of the programming but it had all been settled within two weeks. Katie had enjoyed the time spent working with Lucas, it had given them an opportunity to extend their friendship. She was also glad to spend time with Malcolm and Kristin. The two of them were like another set of parents- almost grandparents if you looked at their age, but Katie would never actually tell them _that _part. The only damper on their time had been Caesar. He tried to spend as much time with Katie as possible regardless of how often she gave him the slip or made excuses. It hadn't been hard to find excuses to not spend time with him, the vocorder demanded most of her attention, but she still couldn't find the courage to tell him to back off.

"_Katie, I don't want you to go," said Caesar. "It won't be the same without you. Can't you stay longer?"_

"_I'd love to stay Caesar, but my research with Malcolm is over, and the job the UEO is offering is just too good to pass up. Besides, I want to go out and see the world before I settle into permanent research." Katie ruffled the younger mans hair. "Besides," she said teasingly, "without me here, you can go back to being Malcolm's star pupil."_

"_But I'll miss you," Caesar reached out awkwardly to brush Katie's hair away from her face. Katie looked into his eyes, and was confused by the emotions she saw reflected there. She looked back out onto the water and spoke softly. _

"_I want to see the world Caesar. I want to sail the ocean and see all the amazing things that Katie, Ben, and Kristin always talk about. I want meet to new people and see other cultures," Katie's voice speed up and rose in volume as she got excited, "I want to see and do all the things that I've read about and heard about. I want to do something else with my time besides study, fall in love, get my heart broken, do normal things," she finished turning back to him. She barely had time to register how close he was, when he was pressing his lips against hers. _

"_Stay with me Katie, and your heart won't ever break," Ceaser whispered solemnly. _

_Katie panicked. Caesar was sweet, but he was more like a little brother than a boyfriend. She hadn't realized that he had feelings and she didn't know how to tell him no without breaking his heart. _

"_I… I…can't Caesar. I can't." With that Katie jumped up and hurried back to the house. _

Katie had hoped that the time apart would change Caesar's mind. She'd been friendly, answered his emails in a timely fashion but with never anymore information than was absolutely necessary. She didn't want to break his heart, but she didn't want to date him either.

"I'm gonna miss you kid," Malcolm hugged her, startling her out of her thoughts.

"I'm going to miss you too Malcolm," she replied.

Malcolm moved onto Lucas.

"Lucas," he said extending his hand.

"Malcolm," Lucas replied taking his hand. Malcolm pulled Lucas into a hug while he whispered something in Lucas' ear. Lucas smiled and whispered back.

Katie was curious about the exchange but before she could comment, Caesar came into the docking bay.

"Katie! You didn't leave yet!" the boy shouted excitedly.

"Bit high strung isn't he," remarked Lucas sarcastically. He smiled as if it was a joke, but Katie knew that he was jealous of the attention Caesar was putting on Katie. She'd told him their second night there what had happened before she left Malcolm's while they cuddled together. It had become a nightly ritual for the last two weeks. Each night they would eat with Malcolm, Kristin, and Caesar, then following dinner they would both feigned exhaustion and retreat to one of their quarters where they would cuddle and talk and make out a bit. They never went further than kissing; they both knew that their relationship was too fragile for that complication just yet.

"I was afraid you'd left," said Caesar, reaching them breathlessly.

"We did, we're not here anymore, can't you tell," replied Lucas sarcastically.

Caesar shot him a dirty look. "Can I talk to you for a minute Katie? Alone?"

Katie looked at the pleading look on his face and stepped away from the others.

"What's on your mind Caesar," she asked, forcing a smile.

"I … I miss you… The night before you left… I thought… but your emails…" Caesar stumbled over his words. Katie decided it was time to just get it over with.

"Caesar," she whispered softly. "I care about you," Caesar's face brightened at that, "but," and then his face fell, "you're like a brother to me."

"But…" he started.

"No." She said firmly. "Caesar I," she paused "Ceaser even if you weren't like a brother to me, there's someone else. I've…" she shot a quick glance at Lucas talking to Kristin, "I've fallen in love with someone."

Katie took in the hurt look on his face. She moved to hug him. "Caesar," she began.

"No," he stepped away from her. "Its ok, I get it. Enjoy your trip back." With that Caesar left the docking bay. Katie returned to the group.

"What's wrong with Caesar," Kristin asked.

Katie wanted to answer but she could feel a lump building in her throat. Malcolm shot her a look of understanding and ran interference with Kristin.

"Hey, you guys leaving or what?" he joked.

"Right, are you ready?" Lucas asked her.

The two of them gave Kristin one last hug and then climbed into the launch.

Katie stared out the window as the research station shrank in the distance.

From inside the station, another face was watching the launch as it sped away. _"I want to fall in love… get my heart broken… fall in love… get my heart broken"_ Katie's voice kept playing in his mind. _If she wants heartbreak, then maybe she should get it. _

"Caesar, are you ready to eat?" he heard Kristin's voice calling to him. "Dinner is all done."

"Coming Kristin," he replied.


	24. Its Still Broken

Author's Note: Muahaha… what on earth is Caesar thinking hehehe… And now ladies and gentleman MORE BACKSTORY! Annnnd rapid plot development because I have several hours at a library to do nothing besides make all your fanfic dreams come true! Read and review darlings

"I take it you finally told Caesar to bugger off," asked Lucas. They'd be riding in silence for the last hour but he finally had to ask.

"Not in those words but yes," replied Katie curtly.

Lucas recognized the tone. He realized he needed to tread carefully. He knew that Katie hadn't wanted to hurt Caesar and would feel bad about it.

"Hey," he said softly. "He'll be ok."

"Yea, whatever," Katie replied.

Lucas frowned. This wasn't like her. Obviously she was taking it harder than he thought. Before he could comment the launch's systems began to behave erratically.

"What's going on?" Katie asked. Lucas could hear a faint tremor in her voice.

"Damn it," Lucas shouting at the controls. He began to frantically hit switches trying to bring the system back to normal.

"What is it Lucas?" Katie's distress was becoming more evident.

Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breathe.

"The problem with the computer, the engineers at the colony said they fixed it. They didn't fix it right." He looked straight into her eyes. "We're going down."

"Down?"

Lucas hit the emergency beacon and began transmitting.

"This is the UEO vessel, MR-9 from SeaQuest requesting assistance immediately. Our launch is going down. Current location…" Katie tuned Lucas out as he read their coordinates out and repeated their plea. The launch started to shake out of control.

"Hold on!" yelled Lucas. The launch was spinning out of control as Lucas tried to regain control. He failed, and the launch crashed into the bottom of the ocean floor. The last thing that Katie thought about was her parents and how ironic that she was going to die this way.


	25. Awake

Katie woke up to silence. _Shouldn't the launch's systems be beeping?_ She tried to stand up and immediately ended up back on the floor. Her head was pounding. She reached up to feel her forehead and her hand came away with blood. _I must have hit my head._ Katie tried to remember what happened. The systems started to crash, Lucas sent out the emergency beacon and… Lucas!

Katie looked frantically around until she saw him. He was slumped forward in his seat. Slowly she crawled over to him. He was so still. She reached up to feel a pulse, praying he was ok. He still had a pulse and he was breathing. He was just unconscious. She stood slowly. This time she managed to stay upright. She moved towards the first aid kit, and was just tying off the bandage on her head when she heard Lucas groan.

"Katie?" he said groggily. His eyes shot open wide. "Katie!" he yelled.

"I'm here," she replied, making her way over to him. Her head was still pounding but the aspirin she had found in the first aid kit was helping.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

Lucas straightened up and started hitting buttons on the control panel.

"I'm fine," he said, "how are you?" He shot a glance at her out of the corner of his eye. He saw the bandage around her head and was worried, but he knew that that wasn't the biggest problem.

"Fine. I think I have a concussion." She dropped into the seat next to him.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We crashed." Lucas was still hitting switches, trying to get a response from the launch's system. _Damn Damn Damn_ he thought.

"Obviously…" she muttered. "I meant with the launch."

"Um." He looked at her trying to figure out how much to tell her. Katie saw the look of apprehension on her face.

"How bad is it," she asked.

"Bad," he admitted. "The system is totally shut down. Navigation, communications, nothing is working."

"But you sent out the emergency beacon. That's still running, right. " She saw the worried look on his face deepen. "Right?"

"No."

"_What do you mean no?" _she practically shouted at Lucas. It wasn't his fault, but still, how could it not be working.

"How can it not be working?" she cried.

"The error in the system was in the programming and it occurred in both the main system and the back up systems. I managed to reroute the life support onto a third system before I lost control but I didn't have time for the emergency beacon. I figured that one sort of out weighed the other."

"Oh yeah, it's great that we get to live a little longer at the bottom of the ocean before we die!"

"Look, we got at least a minute of the beacon out, I'm sure someone heard it," Lucas tried to console her.

Katie just tuned him out and stared out the window. Lucas sighed and went back to trying to get the systems to work.

«««««««««»»»»»»»«««««««»»»»»»»««««««»»»»»»»««««««»»»»»»»«««««««»»»»»»«««

"Damn it," Lucas shouted slamming his fists onto the dash.

Katie looked over at him. She'd sat in silence for over an hour while he'd tried so desperately to find them a way out. She hadn't tried to help. She'd just resigned herself to the fact that they were going to die. _What am I doing?_ She asked herself._ Acting like a fool _was the answer her self gave.

"Can I help?" she asked tentatively.

"There's nothing we can do," Lucas said. "The flaw in the programming won't let me turn the systems back on and the flaw can't be fixed with the systems off."

"Are you sure it's the programming? Maybe its hardware." Hardware she could handle. It was the stuff inside that she was a little iffy on. She could hold her own, but when it came to the _inside _of a computer, Lucas was the expert.

"No, it's definitely a flaw in the programming. It's a flaw in all the MR shuttle programming. They were _supposed _to be updated months ago." Lucas spat out the word supposed with such venom that she knew whoever was responsible was going to get it when they got back to SeaQuest._ If they got back._ Katie scolded herself for thinking negatively.

"Want to know the real irony?" Lucas snorted.

"Ok," replied Katie tentatively.

"I'm the one who was supposed to make sure that the software was updated. I assigned two crewmen to update them all, but I never bothered to follow up properly." Lucas shook his head. "I checked exactly two shuttles. I couldn't be bothered to check the rest to make sure it was done properly." Lucas banged his head back on the seat. "Stupid."

"Hungry?"

"What?"

"Are you hungry," she repeated. "I'm going to grab some food."

Katie returned with a few food rations and two bottles of water. She handed half of everything to Lucas and they both sat there in silence as they ate. Katie tried to think of a way to pull Lucas out of the hole he was busy burying himself in.

"My parents died in a launch crash," she said suddenly.

"What?"

"My parents. The real ones. Died in a launch crash when I was five. I lived in the orphanage for three years before Katie and Ben adopted me. I…" Katie faltered for a moment before continuing on. "I knew how they died. I heard some of the workers at the orphanage talking about it when I first got there. They talked about how horrible it must have been, the fear they must have felt, slowly suffocating to death. I had horrible nightmares for years, I always dreamed that I was in a launch, and that it crashed, and I suffocated. It wasn't until after I was adopted that they started to go away." Katie worked up the nerve to look at Lucas. "That's what the nightmare on the way to the research colony was about. I don't have it every night now, but sometimes it sneaks up on me."

"How did you get them to go away?" Lucas asked carefully.

"Katie." She shrugged, and then smiled. "She found out about the nightmares shortly after I moved in with her. I was terrified she'd send me back but all she did was hug me and tell me everything would be ok. They started getting better but it wasn't until I started to work on the Gazelle model that they truly disappeared.

"The Gazelle model?"

"Yea. Katie was designing a submersible when she adopted me. She used to take me to the lab- she thought maybe being around one would make me less afraid. I found it all fascinating. After a few days she realized that I was asking much more advanced questions than an eight year old should. Katie and Ben took me to some specialists to get my IQ tested. Once they started talking to me and realized how much I had read and learned they let me take the high school equivalency test and the rest is history." Snorting she continued, "Ironic that I'm going to die the same way isn't it," she said bitterly.

Lucas was stunned. In spite of losing everything, she'd still managed to rise above. He'd never really thought about what had happened to her real parents. He tried to think of what to say but he couldn't find the words. Instead he set his rations aside and walked over to where Katie sat. Sitting on the floor, he leaned against the wall, pulling Katie into his lap. He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her forehead.

"You're not going to die here. I promise."

With Lucas holding her, in a launch at the bottom of the ocean, Katie finally let go of the grief she'd been carrying around for so many years. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but they were tears of happiness. She was happy that she had found Lucas. If she had to die anyway, she wanted it to be in the arms of the man she loved. The man she hoped loved her.

"Lucas I," she started, but was interrupted but a loud banging.

"What is that?"

"It sounds like a grapnel," Lucas replied. "Someone found us!"

The two of them held each other silently for ten minutes as they felt the launch being pulled up through the water. They heard the sound of the airlock being opened and moved towards it.

"Well look at what I caught. What do you say Verne? Should we keep them or through them back?"

Author's Note: OOOoooo Who is it? lol… I'm tempted to not write the next chapter for a few weeks just to see if anyone can figure out who is at the door


	26. The Regulator

Katie moved towards the airlock to see who owned the voice. She was startled by the appearance of an orangutan.

"Ugh," she groaned. "Lucas," she whined, "I think I hit my head harder than I thought. I'm seeing monkeys."

"Actually he's an orangutan," chuckled Lucas. "Hey Verne, how's it going Apeface?" Verne made a funny noise as he grabbed onto Lucas.

"What did I tell you about touching strange things Verne? You don't know where its been." Katie turned towards the voice as a tall man dressed in a long coat with strange goggles stepped into the shuttle.

"You hear that Verne? You shouldn't touch Leslie," Lucas laughed as Verne nodded and screeched in agreement.

"You know this guy Lucas?" asked Katie.

"We've met. You've probably heard about him actually. Leslie, this is Doctor Katie Krieg, Katie this is L—"

"The Regulator," Leslie interrupted, shooting Lucas a dark look.

"And here I thought you'd come out of hiding," responded Lucas with an equally dark look.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Ferina," Katie interjected, interrupting their staring war.

Both men turned to look at her in surprise.

"How do you know that?" asked Leslie.

Katie shrugged. "I'm related to Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg. I may have heard a few stories about you," Katie responded matter-of-factly.

Lucas gave her a curious look. She'd said she was related to Ben but hadn't specified being his daughter. Lucas thought about questioning it but realized he should probably wait until they were somewhere Leslie couldn't hear. He didn't know why, but Katie obviously didn't want Leslie to know who she was.

"Is that so? You know, it just so happens that Ben owes me a nice chunk of change, I don't suppose you'd know how to get a hold of him," Leslie said sweetly.

"Not a clue," said Katie. "Last I heard he'd gone missing on some mission in Macronesia. He's not really a close relative. I was adopted by a cousin of his and they sort of had a falling out years ago, something about Ben owing my mum a submersible. Seems he thought it would make a good trade."

Lucas tried to keep the surprise off of his face. Katie _definitely_ didn't want Leslie to know who she was. He was wondering why she even mentioned Ben when she answered his unvoiced question.

"Normally I don't even admit to knowing Ben, but I was under the impression you two were buddies and I figured I'd try to play that card to make this whole incident a little more tolerable. Besides," she said looking at Lucas, "Lucas already told you my name, and they're aren't that many Kriegs around."

Lucas could have kicked himself. He'd never even thought that Katie's name would be a problem with Leslie, but he forgot that Ben was well known on the black market. He didn't think he could get more surprised when Katie continued talking.

"I can see though that you and Ben aren't friends, so I'll just have to count on you're natural kindness to see us back to SeaQuest."

"It would be my pleasure to escort such a lovely lady," replied Leslie. He reached out to take her hand and kissed it. "For a price," he added.

"Tell you what Leslie," Katie said leaning in towards Leslie, "you give us a ride home," Katie was close enough to Leslie that for half a second Lucas thought she'd kiss him, but she moved past his mouth and to his ear, "and we won't tell anyone you're still alive."

Leslie looked like someone had kicked him before he broke into a grin. Laughing he turned to Lucas and told him he'd have his hands full with this one. Lucas laughed along with him. For a minute he'd thought they were in trouble the way that Katie and Leslie were glaring.

"Come on," said Leslie turning back to the airlock. Lucas and Katie grabbed their things and followed him into the other craft. Lucas was curious about Katie's behaviour. He shot her a sideways look. She was stone-faced. She was smiling but Lucas could tell it wasn't a real smile. It didn't reach her eyes like it normally did. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong when the airlock hissed closed behind them.

"So where to kid," asked Leslie and Lucas' questions were lost as he went to the front of the launch to call SeaQuest.

Katie sat down in the back of the shuttle. _Stupid Stupid Stupid, _she told herself. She'd really screwed up when she'd called him Ferina. She wasn't thinking, she just wanted him and Lucas to stop glaring. She should have used another reason besides Ben, but Lucas had already told Leslie her name and it seemed like a good opportunity to cover both the slips. It wasn't Lucas' fault. He didn't know about what had happened between Leslie and her father. Or her and Leslie. Katie thanked the stars that she'd changed her last name all those year ago. Hopefully Leslie wouldn't connect Kaitlyn Hitchcock, daughter of Benjamin Krieg and Katharine (Katie) Hitchcock to Katie Krieg, Ben's apparently estranged niece. Or cousin. She wasn't sure. All she was sure of was that she was in deep trouble if he figured it out, and it wasn't that great of a cover to begin with.

"So kid, when did you give into the man," asked Leslie.

"I enlisted last September," replied Lucas.

"I thought you were smarter than that Lucas."

Lucas grinned. He might have been upset at Nathan criticizing his decision to enlist, but he couldn't fault Leslie for the same attitude. At least Leslie's criticism wasn't hypocritical like the captain's.

"Guess I'm just a bit of a fool then." Both men laughed.

"Well at least you got the girl right," asked Leslie.

"Not exactly," Lucas replied. Lucas turned around in his chair to look at Katie. She was lost in thought and worry furrowed her brow. His grin faltered for a moment before he turned back to Leslie.

"But I'm working on it."

"She really Ben's cousin," asked Leslie, getting straight to the point. He knew that if he tried to be sneaky, Lucas would suspect something.

Lucas paused before answering, glancing at Katie. "So I've been told," he replied. "Someone asked when she first came on board but she just said that he was a bit of a distant relative and an estranged one at that. Made it clear that they weren't close and that she didn't want anything to do with him." Lucas was lying through his teeth, and he didn't like it. He didn't wholly trust Leslie, but he didn't see the need for the lies. He also didn't know what was going on with Katie, and as much as he liked Leslie he _trusted_ Katie.

"Well would you," Leslie asked grinning.

The two of them laughed and then Leslie started asking more general questions, how did Lucas like enlisting, how was SeaQuest with a new captain, how was Darwin, and how was Lucas own research coming along. At that point Lucas started talking about Katie's research with the vocorder.

"Lucas," Katie's voice interrupted. "No offence to your buddy, but some of that is classified."

"Sorry," Lucas apologized. He'd forgotten that any research on SeaQuest was classified until it was finished. At that point, most of the research would be released to the science community in the form of academic articles but until that point it was all hush hush.

"How long until we rendezvous with SeaQuest," asked Katie. Her voice was blunt and harsh and Lucas was really starting to get confused.

"Um, we should be at the rendezvous point in about an hour. They're busy dealing with a problem at the Berkeley Colony so we're to meet them there."

"Ok," she replied and went back to her seat. The three of them sat in silence until they saw the colony coming up. Leslie steered the launch into a docking bay. They heard the crunch of their shuttle being dropped, and the sound of Leslie's ship locking into the airlock.

"We'll kids, this is where you get off," he said.

"You're not coming," Katie asked incredulously.

"Miss me already beautiful?" teased Leslie.

"I'm just surprised you aren't going to try and cash in on that _price _you mentioned earlier," she rebuffed.

"What can I say? You made me an offer I couldn't refuse," Leslie laughed at his own joke while Lucas looked confused. Lucas noticed that Katie froze momentarily at the comment before replying.

"I don't see how that is funny," she huffed before leaving the launch.

Lucas picked up his bag and held out his hand. "Thanks a lot Leslie."

"No problem kid."

Lucas followed Katie quickly out of the launch.

Neither one bothered to check that the launch they'd just exited actually left.

"Hey! Will you wait?" Lucas had been chasing Katie for the last five minutes. He could barely keep up. "Will you wait a minute?" Lucas finally caught up to her and grabbed her arm pulling her to a stop.

"What's the rush?" Lucas asked. Katie stared at the ground refusing to look up. Lucas felt worry appear in the pit of his stomached. He cupped Katie's chin and turned her face upwards. He could now see the tears in her eyes threatening to fall out. He pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Hey, it's ok. We're fine. Everything is ok," he whispered soothingly while rubbing her back. They separated and Lucas looked at her eyes to see that the tears had receded. "Let's go find SeaQuest." 


	27. Spherical Evolution

They quickly located the docking bay with SeaQuest and within a few hours were back on their boat, debriefed, showered and curled up on Lucas bunk. Tony was on a bridge shift for another four hours.

"So," opened Lucas, interrupting the silence.

"So what," said Katie irritably. She knew where he was going but she wasn't in the mood. She sat up and moved towards the ladder.

"So," replied Lucas pulling her onto his lap, "are you going to explain what happened with Leslie or do I have to torture it out of you?" With that Lucas began kissing a spot on her neck that he knew would leave her at his mercy. She pushed him away for the first time since they'd left SeaQuest.

"Ok now I know something is wrong," Lucas said. Katie just sat on the bunk with her legs pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. She was staring out into the room with a blank look in her eyes.

"Katie," Lucas said softly. He pulled her towards him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. "Whatever it is, I'm not letting you go until you tell me."

Lucas held her tightly for another minute before she spoke.

"When I was twelve I decided I was tired of academia. I had already done high school and gone so far in university and I wanted to do something fun. Mom and Ben said that I could take a semester off and do something fun. I liked singing, and I had been taken lessons ever since I went to live with Katie. So I enrolled in this exchange to Paris. I took a few classes at one of the universities. But most of my time was spent taking opera lessons at the national opera. It was fun. I loved singing and it was a nice break from school." Katie had a wistful look on her face.

"Two months into my stay, a bunch of men came to the house I was staying at. They told my host family that there was a problem with my mother and they were to escort me to the embassy and back to America. They had UEO navy uniforms on so none of us questioned it." Katie scowled. "They were really private bounty hunters. They were hired to kidnap me to be used against Katie. You see," she turned toward Lucas, "Katie was appointed the position of ambassador a few days earlier. We had talked about my safety, and we agreed I would move into the dorms where they could control security more. That weekend was my last with my host family."

Lucas was shocked. "What happened to you?"

"They were going to ransom me to mum, but then one of the men found information about what I had been doing before I went to France. Once they discovered I was a genius, and one who had been working on several UEO projects they figured they could get more money for me on the black market. That's how I met Leslie."

Lucas was beyond shocked at this point. "But you and Leslie acted liked you don't know each other."

"We don't," she shrugged. "My first name is really Kaitlyn, and I used to use the name Hitchcock, it wasn't until after this that I changed my name, mostly for safety. All of the media outlets and my passport said Kaitlyn Hitchcock. I didn't correct the bounty hunters or anyone else when they said Kaitlyn not Katie, so Leslie was introduced to Kaitlyn Hitchcock when we met." Katie blushed a bit. "Err, I also 'rebelled' a bit in Paris. I cut my hair really short and dyed it bright blue."

Lucas laughed at the image of Katie with blue hair. She continued her story.

"You know that Leslie is the Regulator. Leslie stayed in touch with the black market and when he found out that I was on the market for sale, he contacted Ben and arranged to get me back… for a price."

Lucas frowned. He knew that a person needed to make a living, but to try and make money off of a missing child.

"Anyway, Leslie bought me and I wasn't hurt and we were staying in Leslie's lab waiting for my dad so that he could pay Leslie and I could go home. I… I was bored and so I started singing… and…Leslie had dolphins there and… " Katie trailed off as her eyes filled with tears.

"Hey, shhh…it's ok," Lucas hugged her and repeated his words for a few minutes until she composed herself.

"Then what happened," he prodded gently.

"The dolphins reacted to my singing and sang with me. Leslie was convinced that I had the perfect voice. He said that it was somehow the key to talking to dolphins and that he needed them to complete his theories on 'spherical evolution.' He'd gotten a vocorder and was trying to communicate with the dolphins, convinced that Darwin was just too young to know the answers." Katie sniffed and snuggled closer to Lucas.

"Anyway when my dad showed up Leslie refused to hand me over. Eventually he did after dad threatened to bring down the entire UEO navy on him. But then dad refused to pay him the money and Leslie went ballistic. He'd spent a lot of money to get me back and he was mad he was out the money and had lost me and my voice."

Katie looked at Lucas. "So that's it. That's the money that Leslie was talking about and that's why I didn't want him to know who I really was. I didn't want him dragging me back to his lair."

"I'm so sorry," Lucas whispered.

Katie shrugged. Lucas noticed she'd done that a lot today. "It's ok. He didn't recognize me. That's mostly the reason why I had all private tutors after that and why none of my articles have my picture. I don't want people to know who I am – especially people like Leslie."

She changed the topic then to a new experiment she wanted Lucas to help with but all Lucas could think about was how much he wanted to beat up all the men in the world who would hurt his girl.


	28. Katie play with Lucas

Leslie made his way quickly through the colony. He'd gotten SeaQuest's docking port number and was on his way to try and get back what belonged to him. As he approached the ship he heard a familiar voice calling to him.

"Well if it isn't the regulator," the voice taunted.

Leslie turned around to face Ben. "Lieutenant Krieg, what a pleasant surprise."

"I wish I could say the same. What are you doing here Ferina?"

"Heard you guys were in town, and I thought it would be a good chance to make some sales."

"We're not buying," said Ben sternly.

"Maybe you're not, but some of them may be," replied Leslie, gesturing to the crewmen loitering around the airlock.

"No. They're not." Ben turned to the men behind him. "Atkins, Murphy, Cole." Three security personnel came over to Ben.

"Make sure this guy doesn't get onto the boat, and let all the personnel know that he's a criminal. Anyone caught making a transaction; however legitimate it seems will be at risk of criminal persecution and will be reported to the Captain for investigation."

Leslie scowled at Ben. "Trying to ruin business won't make me go away Ben."

Ben pushed right up into Leslie's face. "Try me," he growled. With that Ben turned and went back to the boat.

Leslie took one look at the security guards glaring at him before he too left.

"I got it, I'm going." Leslie left quickly, trying to rethink his plan.

Ben was almost to his quarters when Tim and Miguel caught up with him.

"Hey Ben, we've been looking all over for you."

"What do you want O'Neil?" snapped Ben.

"Whoa calm down," replied Miguel. "We just wanted to talk to you."

"Well I don't feel like talking," scowled Ben as he turned to walk away.

"It's about Katie," explained Tim.

Ben stopped and turned. "What about her?" he barked.

"There was a problem with their shuttle," began O'Neil.

Ben completely shut down. _Oh no. Not her. Not my baby girl, please G-d no, not her no no no._

"Ben…BEN!" Ben looked up to find Miguel and Tim shaking him.

"Ben she'd fine," said Miguel. "They made it back safe; we just thought you should be warned that she'd had a rough trip."

Ben jumped up. "Where is she?"

"Last we saw her, her and Lucas were headed to their quarters," Tim told him.

Ben sprinted down the corridor leaving the two men to stare at him strangely.

"Remind me never to have kids," said Miguel.

"Remind me to never let mine enlist," countered Tim. Miguel laughed and slapped him on the back and they turned to return to duty.

_Bang Bang Bang_ Ben hammered on Katie's door. He was worried about her and had to make sure she was ok. _What the hell, she's my daughter, she won't report me,_ he thought as he opened the door and entered the cabin without permission. He found it empty.

"where is she," he muttered. Just then he saw Darwin swim by. He quickly turned around and headed to the moon pool.

When he got there Darwin swam up and butted his hand.

"Ben, play?"

"Not now, do you know where Katie is?"

"Katie play with Lucas."

"Great. She's with Lucas. Do you know where they are?"

"Lucas room. Katie mate with Lucas."

Ben had turned when he heard Darwin say Lucas' room but stopped when he heard the rest of his statement.

"What did you say?"

"Katie play with Lucas."

Ben laughed. He was hearing things now. He turned and left the moon pool ignoring the rest of Darwin's speech in his hurry to find his daughter.

"Lucas room. Katie mate with Lucas."

Lucas wanted to kill Ferina. He wanted to kill anyone who ever hurt his woman. But instead he looked her straight in the eyes and kissed her.

"You shouldn't have to hide who you are to be safe," he told her.

"I'm used to it. It's ok."

"No it isn't," he said angrily. "You're beautiful and talented and smart and you shouldn't have to live your life afraid."

"It's ok Lucas," Katie tried to calm him. She kissed him gently. "I'm not afraid. Not when I'm with you." Katie smiled at him, and all of Lucas' anger melted.

"I feel happy when I'm with you," she said as she kissed him again. "I feel happy *kiss* safe *kiss* alive *kiss* and that's because of you. I think its time I showed you just how happy you make me." Katie began to unbutton her shirt.

Lucas swallowed hard. They'd built a strong friendship since they had called a truce, and their time at the science colony had pushed them into a semblance of a relationship. They talked and cuddled every night, and had built an emotional intimacy, but with the exception of a few well-placed kisses they had avoided physical intimacy.

Lucas pulled her close and rolled them over so he was lying on top of her. He grabbed her hands and stopped her from unbuttoning the rest of her shirt. She looked at him confused.

"I think that I'm the one who should show you how happy you make me," said Lucas. He finished her shirt and continued onto the rest of their clothes.

Lucas was determined to make up for his cruelty the first month she had been on the boat. He wanted to erase every bad feeling she'd ever felt. Kissing her with all the passion he could muster, Lucas began to make love to the woman who'd captured his soul.

Afterwards they lay quietly together, holding each other like it was the last time.

"I should go," said Katie moving to get up.

"No," Lucas pulled her quickly back. "Stay."

"Tony will be back soon."

"He can't see, we're on the top bunk. Besides he leaves the lights off when I'm supposed to be sleeping. Stay. Please?" Lucas' voice took on a pleading tone. He felt ashamed at begging, but at the same time he didn't want to let her go. He just wanted one night with her next to him. He'd never felt so loved, so intimate with anyone in his life. It was like the hole inside him was finally full and he was desperate to hold onto that.

"Ok. I'll stay." Katie snuggled up to Lucas as he pulled her close. Lucas realized exactly what it was that he felt inside. He didn't know how he'd ever confused the feeling before.

"Katie. I… I"

Katie lifted her head and looked at him. "You what?" she grinned mockingly.

Lucas took her face in his hands. "I lo-"

Suddenly the door opened and the room was flooded with light.

"Hey Lucas, do you know where my-"

Author's note: This doesn't have an M rating so I didn't do a fabulous sex scene, but if you review that you want one then I'll make it a oneshot on my page!


	29. Not again

Katie heard the voice and ducked down as low as she could possibly get.

_Not again!_ She thought.

"Ben, hey, what are you doing here?" asked Lucas.

"Looking for Katie. Darwin said she was here," replied Ben looking at Lucas suspiciously. Lucas realized that Katie had ducked down far enough that he couldn't see she was there.

"Why the hell are you naked?"

"I like to sleep naked," replied Lucas snarkily. He had to get rid of Ben. "Do you mind? I'm trying to sleep."

"Sorry, I was looking for Katie. Darwin said she was with you."

"Ah no, she's not with me. I mean she was but she left. Said something about checking on an experiment in the lab."

Ben looked at him suspiciously again. "Was that before or after you got naked?"

"Ben, seriously, after you tried to kill me, what do you think?"

"I'm sorry." Ben stuck his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet. "I'm just worried about Katie. I need to make sure she's ok."

"Why? What happened?"

"Did you miss the part where you're shuttle almost crashed?"

"Oh right. Well she was fine when I saw her." Lucas fidgeted nervously while Ben stared at him. "Anything else?"

"No that's it," Ben turned to leave.

"Forgive me if I don't show you out." Ben waved his hand in agreement and left the room. Lucas was glad he'd had an excuse not to move. Between his body and her crouching Ben hadn't seen Katie, but if he'd had to get off the bunk they might not have been so lucky.

Katie giggled as she sat back up.

"Oh my gosh… that was so close!"

"Yea." Lucas let out a breathe he didn't know he'd been holding. "So where were we?" he asked pulling her in for a kiss.

"What lab did you say she was in?"

They broke apart at the sound of Ben's voice.

They turned towards the door and saw Ben looking madder than either had ever seen him.

"Daddy, I-"

"I'll speak to you later," he said abruptly and left the room slamming the door.

"Well that went well," said Lucas. He smiled at her. "At least this time he didn't try to kill me."

"Don't be so sure he won't come back," warned Katie but she said it with a laugh. She started dressing. "Don't worry, I'll talk to him."

Lucas joined her and put on his pyjamas. He really needed sleep if he was going to be awake for his bridge shift.

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"Yes. But that wouldn't be a good idea."

Lucas pulled her close for another kiss. Katie pulled away mid-kiss.

"What were you going to say before he showed up?"

"I don't remember," lied Lucas.

Katie had her suspicions of what he was going to say but she decided to let it go. For now. Instead she put on her boots and went in search of Ben.

She found him waiting in her quarters.

"Why?" That was the only thing he said.

"Because I love him daddy. And I think he loves me."

"After the way he treated you… how can you call that love? Didn't I teach you anything?" Ben was trying not to yell but was starting to fail.

"I saw Leslie Ferina," stated Katie.

Ben looked at her in shock. "You saw him? When? I told them not to let him on the boat!" Ben was getting angry.

"When our shuttle crashed," she replied calmly. "He rescued us and brought us to the colony. I don't think he recognized me."

"Katie," Ben was trying to be gentle. "You need to be careful. Ferina tried to get on the boat earlier."

Katie suddenly couldn't breathe. She heard her father talking but she couldn't hear anything. All she could think of before things went black was how she wished she was back in bed with Lucas.


End file.
